More than 13,900 Visitor Arrivals recorded in third quarter of 2024
The total International Arrivals for the third quarter of 2024 was 13,966, an increase of 11.5% compared to the previous quarter (2nd quarter 2024).
The Solomon Islands National Statistics Office released the latest report on Tuesday 24th December 2024.
According to the report, the number of total arrivals significantly increased to 28.2% compared to the same quarter a year ago.
Returning residents comprised the largest entrances comprising of 50.1% of all arrivals for the third quarter of 2024. Visitors recorded 49.4% of all arrivals, and the remaining less than 1.0% were intending residents.
Visitor arrivals for the third quarter increased by 7.1% to 6,903 visitors, compared to the second quarter 2024 figure of 6,446 visitors. From the third quarter of 2023 to the third quarter of 2024, visitor arrivals increased by 22.7% in visitor arrivals.
Arrivals by country of residence for the third quarter of 2024 showed that visitors from Australia comprised the largest (32.4%) group of visitors to the Solomon Islands. This was a decrease of 0.7% in arrivals representing 2,234 Australian visitors in the third quarter compared to the second quarter of 2024 figure of 2,250.
The next largest group of visitors was from the United States of America (11.2%) followed by Other Asian Countries (9.1%), China (8.9%), Fiji (7.5%), New Zealand (7.3%), Papua New Guinea (6.9%), Other European Countries (4.4%), Vanuatu (3.3%), Other Pacific Countries (2.8%), Japan (2.3%), United Kingdom (1.7%), Other Countries (1.5%), and less than 1% for Canada and Germany.
Visitor arrivals by month showed that August recorded the highest number of visitors in the third quarter of 2024 with 2,504 visitors. This was followed by July with 2,230 visitors and September the least with 2,169 visitors.
The third quarter of 2024 recorded 2,471 tourists, out of which 2,186 tourists reported having a holiday and vacation as their purpose of travel. Tourists spent an average of 11 days in the country. Australia made up the highest proportion of tourists (32.5%) during the quarter.
The most common reason for visitors visiting the Solomon Islands during the quarter was for Holiday and Vacation (31.7%). This was followed by Other Reasons (26.4%), Business and Conference (24.9%), Visit Friends or Relatives (12.8%), and 4.1% for Transit and Stopover.
The distribution of visitor arrivals by broad age groups for the third quarter of 2024 showed that 75.3% of visitors were in the 25 years to 64-year-old age range. The youngest age group, 0-24 years, comprised 9.3%, and the oldest age group, 65 years and over, represented 10.6% of total visitor arrivals.
The remaining 4.8% were visitors who did not state their age. In addition, male visitors represented more than half of the total visitor arrivals (67.7%), with female visitors making up 32.3% of all arrivals during the quarter.
Visitors by Occupation showed that the “Professional and Technical” category comprised the largest percentage of occupations (36.1%) during the quarter. This was followed by Administration and Managerial (17.3%), Not Working (13.8%), Other Occupation (7.5%), Student (7.0%), Production and Related Work (6.4%), Service Worker (5.7%), Sales Worker (2.9%), Clerical and related work (1.8%), and Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (1.3%).
The remaining 0.1% of visitors did not state their occupation. Males outnumbered females in all arrivals of visitors by occupations from professional to agricultural forestry and fishery.
The most popular carriers during the quarter were Solomon Airlines which carried (38.1%) of total visitors, followed by Air Niugini (28.9%), Qantas (21.7%), Fiji Airways (7.2%), and Unscheduled Flights (4.1%).
Brisbane-Munda flights commenced its weekly schedule in February 2024. There were 395 recorded arrivals by country of residence to Munda for the third quarter. Australians (78.9%) recorded the largest group of visitors, followed by the United States (6.6%), Other Europe (5.3%), New Zealand (5.1%), United Kingdom (1.5%), and Other Asia (1.0%). Visitor arrivals less than 1% were from Canada, Other Pacific Countries, and Other Country.
Ends//
-SINSO Media Release