Pacific / Fiji

Fiji Central Bank estimates high level of 'tourism leakage'

14:31 pm on 16 June 2015

Fiji's Central Bank has estimated that 60 percent of the money earned through tourism ends up leaving Fiji.

The Reserve Bank of Fiji Governor, Barry Whiteside, told the Fiji Times that only 40 cents from every Fiji dollar stays in the country.

He attributes this to the fact that most hotels are foreign-owned and many of the items demanded from customers are not locally-produced.

The 'tourism leakage' factor is what the industry denotes as the amount spent on importing goods and services for tourists.

Mr Whiteside says he doesn't have the figures yet, but the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association President Dixon Seeto says there is a study currently looking into it.

Mr Seeto told the Fiji Times he didn't think the figure was that high and that there's been a decrease in the level of import for tourism over the past few years.