Holiday in the sun: Fiji and the globetrotting Aussie tourist

From Bali to Vietnam to Thailand – record numbers of Australians are heading overseas for short-term trips.

“Post pandemic, more spend-ready Australians chose to holiday in Fiji. However, Australians are now saving more, perhaps due to uncertainty around global growth.”

In the year to April 2025, around 12.2 million trips were recorded, which is the highest annual number since the data collection began in July 2007 (“Short-term trips abroad by Australians” chart below).

This is also 7.9 per cent higher than the 11.3 million departures recorded in the calendar   year 2019, which was a pre-pandemic record.

Around 60 per cent of these trips were for holidays; 25 per cent were for visiting friends and relatives (VFR); and the rest were for business, participating in conferences or sports, education or employment.

Short-term trips abroad by Australians

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What about Fiji?

Fiji was quick out of the blocks after the pandemic in attracting visitors.

Enhanced flight connectivity, recently refurbished luxury international hotels and resorts, high vaccine coverage as well as limited opening of Australians’ traditional destinations saw Fiji draw ‘new’ visitors out of Australia.

However, the number of Aussies currently heading to Fiji is stable at around 400,000 per year, even though the number of Australian travellers is increasing.

Peak in Aussie arrivals

Post pandemic, more spend-ready Australians chose to holiday in Fiji. However, Australians are now saving more, perhaps due to uncertainty around global growth.

Australian interest rates remain on the tight side of neutral, so households are taking a more cautious approach to discretionary spending. Nonetheless, they are travelling, and value-for-money travel appears to be the ‘order the day’ in the current environment.

Australian tourists are choosing major international destinations that offer competitive pricing, such as Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.

Fiji increased its market share for holiday tourists from just below 5 per cent before the pandemic to a high of above 25 per cent, but it is now back to pre-pandemic levels (“Australians holidaying in Fiji, per cent of total holiday trips” chart below).

A 5 per cent share of a larger number of trips means Fiji has a higher number of Australian holiday travellers. But the maximum annual Australian holiday arrivals for Fiji in the short term appears to be around 350,000, as about 87 per cent of all Australian arrivals are leisure travellers.

Australians holidaying in Fiji, per cent of total holiday trips

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Australia is Fiji’s main source of tourism, accounting for 46 per cent of all visitors in 2024, so it is not a surprise that Fiji’s total holiday inbound demand may have peaked in line with Australian demand (“Fiji’s holiday inbound demand by main market” chart below).

Fiji’s holiday inbound demand by main market

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Recent visitors spending less money

In terms of expenditure, tourists were highly valuable to the Fijian tourism industry immediately after the pandemic, with travellers spending big on their Fijian holidays.

 Earnings from leisure travel, moving annual totals

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However, the tourism yield (in-country expenditure per trip) has fallen to an average of FJD2,405 per trip in 2024 versus FJD2,600 in 2022 and 2023.

This has seen Fiji’s tourism earnings stabilise at FJD2.1bn.

Fiji’s short-term departures and overseas expenditure have risen

Following open borders, Fijians heading overseas also increased with the number of short-term trips rising from 159,324 in 2019 to 188,781 in 2024. Contrary to popular belief, it was not the student and employment-related departures that drove increases observed after 2022.

The holiday and VFR travellers led the charge. The increasing number of overseas trips resulted in Fiji residents’ overseas expenditure growing from FJD300m to FJD550m in 2024.

The net travel trade balance (non-resident spending in-country, tourism receipts, less resident expenditure abroad) did not change significantly, which means net travel trade was less of a drag on net exports and GDP.

Saturation point?

Fiji’s remarkable turnaround in economic performance from its deepest pandemic-induced recession is due to the nation’s ability to quickly welcome tourists in large numbers once it opened its international border.

Visitor arrivals in 2023 exceeded the record arrivals of 2019, and inbound demand (air arrivals) nearly reached one million visitors in 2024. This was almost unthinkable at the height of the pandemic.

The revival of international tourism, especially Australian tourists, returned people to their jobs and created new employment. This returned household final consumption expenditures to its pre-pandemic levels and helped restore equilibrium in the economy.

However, we believe the numbers have likely peaked for Fiji (relative to historical data) as its key tourism source market (Australia) appears to have hit a saturation point.

Tourism earnings may have also peaked for now. More Fijians are travelling abroad, and resident expenditures overseas have risen lately. However, the net travel trade balance is not expected to be a significant drag to total output.

And what next for the Fijian tourism sector?

Fiji’s tourism industry has been adaptable in the past and it is likely to respond to this new reality to solidify its place in the hearts of Australian tourists. We know that international tourism is income and price sensitive. Adding more capacity will be one of the steps to keep Fiji competitive as a holiday destination, and the journey to build on the current hotel stock is already under way.

Kishti Sen is International Pacific Economist, ANZ and Tom Kenny is Senior International Economist, ANZ.