The authorities of Fiji have announced that travelers from all over the world will now be able to enter the country restriction-free as COVID-19 entry rules have been completely dropped.
According to the authorities, this long-awaited decision was taken in an effort to revive the travel and tourism sector, which has been the most affected by entry rules imposed to halt the further spread of the virus, VisaGuide.World reports.
The official travel website of the country, Fiji Travel, said that the measures got dropped on February 14, 2022, and the same stressed that apart from not being required to present proof of vaccination upon arrival, travelers will also no longer be required to purchase travel insurance.
“Effective February 14, 2023, international travelers arriving into Fiji by air or sea will no longer be required to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination and travel insurance to enter Fiji,” the statement of Fiji Travel reads.
Commenting on the decision that the country has taken, the Chief Executive of Tourism Fiji, Brent Hill, said that the industry welcomes the lifting of COVID restrictions and, at the same time, said that they invite everyone to spend their next holiday in Fiji.
Fiji is one of the countries that has taken a more conservative approach, and for this reason, it saw a decline in the number of arrivals during the time COVID entry rules were effective.
Data show that in 2020 Fiji registered just around 146,900 arrivals and 163,100 departures. The figures declined further in 2021, with the country registering around 31,600 arrivals and 18,314.
On the other hand, as soon as the country decided to facilitate some of its measures, the number of arrivals to the country started to increase significantly. In 2022, Fiji recorded around 636,300 arrivals and the positive trend continued in the first month of this year too.
Data provided by the Fiji Bureau of Statistics show that the country registered a total of 67,502 tourist arrivals in January 2023.
“Visitor arrivals level in January 2023 is 3.2 percent higher than the pre-COVID era in January 2020. Of the 67,502 visitors, 66,539 came by air, while 963 came by sea. The sea arrivals were mostly seamen on fishing vessels (962) and one arrival by yacht,” the Fiji Bureau of Statistics stated.
The same revealed that the major source markets for January 2023 were Australia (with 37,269 visitors), New Zealand (with 12,934 visitors), the US (with 5,359 visitors), the continent of Europe (with 2,358 visitors), Canada (with 1,735 visitors), the UK (with 914 visitors), and China (with 833 visitors).
Citizens of all the above-mentioned countries do not need a Fiji Visa to enter the country, and for this reason, the number of arrivals from these markets was high last month.
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