More than 15,000 International Arrivals Recorded in the Fourth Quarter of 2024
There was a total of 15,703 international arrivals in the fourth quarter of 2024, an increase of 12.4% compared to the previous quarter (3rd quarter 2024).
The Solomon Islands National Statistics Office released the fourth quarter report for 2024 International Arrivals on Monday 24th March 2025.
Compared to the same quarter a year ago, total arrivals significantly decreased to 15.1%.
Returning residents comprised the largest entrances comprising of 55.8% of all arrivals for the fourth quarter of 2024. Visitors recorded 43.8% of all arrivals, and the remaining less than 1.0% were intending residents.
Visitor arrivals for the fourth quarter decreased by 0.4% to 6,878 visitors, compared to the third quarter 2024 figure of 6,903 visitors. From the fourth quarter of 2023 to the fourth quarter of 2024, visitor arrivals decreased by 39.7% in visitor arrivals.
Arrivals by country of residence for the fourth quarter of 2024 showed that visitors from Australia comprised the largest (29.5%) group of visitors to the Solomon Islands. This was a decrease of 9.3% in arrivals representing 2,026 Australian visitors in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter of 2024 figure of 2,234.
The next largest group of visitors was from China (10.6%), followed by Other Asian Countries (9.6%), Papua New Guinea (9.3%), Fiji (7.9%), the United States of America (7.3%), Other Pacific Countries (6.2%), New Zealand (5.6%), Other European Countries (5.2%), Vanuatu (3.6%), Japan (1.6%), United Kingdom (1.5%), Other Countries (1.2%), and less than 1% for Canada.
Visitor arrivals by month showed that October recorded the highest number of visitors in the fourth quarter of 2024 with 2,374 visitors. This was followed by December with 2,284 visitors and November the least with 2,220 visitors.
The fourth quarter of 2024 recorded 2,321 tourists, out of which 2,002 tourists reported having a holiday and vacation as their purpose of travel. Tourists spent an average of 12 days in the country. Australia made up the highest proportion of tourists (31.0%) during the quarter.
The most common reason for visitors visiting the Solomon Islands during the quarter was for Holiday and Vacation (29.1%). This was followed by Other Reasons (28.9%), Business and Conference (22.8%), Visit Friends or Relatives (14.6%), and 4.6% for Transit and Stopover.
The distribution of visitor arrivals by broad age groups for the fourth quarter of 2024 showed that 75.4% of visitors were in the 25 years to 64-year-old age range. The youngest age group, 0-24 years, comprised 10.2%, and the oldest age group, 65 years and over, represented 9.8% of total visitor arrivals. The remaining 4.6% were visitors who did not state their age. In addition, male visitors represented more than half of the total visitor arrivals (67.4%), with female visitors making up 32.6% of all arrivals during the quarter
Visitors by Occupation showed that the “Professional and Technical” category comprised the largest percentage of occupations (39.2%) during the quarter. This was followed by Administration and Managerial (15.5%), Not Working (12.3%), Production and Related Work (8.2%), Other Occupation (7.0%), Student (6.2%), Service Worker (3.8%), Sales Worker (3.4%), Clerical and related work (2.0%), and Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (1.9%). The remaining 0.5% 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 (37.4%) of total visitors, followed by Air Niugini (32.1%), Qantas (18.8%), Fiji Airways (6.6%), Unscheduled Flights (3.3%), and Air Nauru (1.7).
Brisbane-Munda flights commenced its weekly schedule in February 2024. However, reporting of 4th Quarter 2024 Brisbane-Munda Visitors Statistics will be updated in the first quarter of 2025 release. This is due to the delay of arrival cards from Munda immigration.
ENDS//
-Solomon Islands National Statistics Office Press Release