Big jump in NZ visitors to Fiji for April

Big jump in NZ visitors to Fiji for April

New Zealand visitors to Fiji for April jumped almost 27 percent compared to April the previous year.

Fiji Visitor Bureau director for New Zealand, Paresh Pant says that 5269 Kiwis arrived in Fiji. This compared to 4152 in April 2002.

Despite a slow start to the year, figures from New Zealand for the January to April period are down by only 1.4 percent.

According to Mr Pant New Zealand visitor numbers were 13,074 for four month period compared to 13,283 at the same time last year..

For the 12 months to April, New Zealand numbers are up 1.8 percent at 68,104 compared to 66,882.

Mr Pant says the target for this year for New Zealand is 68,500 visitors, a figure which takes into account the impact of the SARS outbreak that has devasted international tourism and the Iraqi war.

Airlines to Fiji are now running at high capacities, estimated at in excess of 80 percent.

While hotels and resorts in Fiji had strong bookings, Mr Pant said rumours that Fiji had been "booked out" were untrue

There is still availability at most hotels and resorts in the popular destinations over the next three months.

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