Pacific / Fiji

Social media boosting Fiji tourism

13:01 pm on 20 January 2016

The Fiji government's tourism arm says the travel landscape is changing and more people are using social media as a catalyst to choose a particular travel destination.

Visitor numbers in Fiji hit a new high for the month of November with nearly 60,000 arrivals.

A tourist is welcomed to Fiji Photo: RNZI Courtesy of Fiji Tourism

Tourism Fiji's Global PR Manager Patricia Mullan says statistics show people rely more on getting feedback and referrals from their friends online.

"There's more value being placed on what you will get from your network of friends, as opposed to what you may see in an advert. And with the digital space, and everyone having smart phones and social media sharing being so instant. We do see it potentially changing the landscape of how people travel."

Miss Mullan says as the Pacific is geographically isolated from host markets, investing in the digital space such as websites is seen as very important.

She says in November Tourism Fiji received more than a million hits on its website, with at least 40 percent of those being new visitors.