Fiji time: which visitor age group are flocking to the arrivals lounge?

Whether you are a celebrity or an everyday holidaymaker, Fiji is well known as a family-friendly holiday destination particularly for those with younger children.

“Fiji is seeing a change in the demography of its visitors, they are getting older and they are spending more."

With its natural beauty, rich cultural experiences, warm hospitality, less crowds, and a wide range of luxury to economy accommodation it ticks many of the boxes for families looking for an island getaway.

Adding to all of this, it is just a short-haul flight from its main markets of Australia and New Zealand.

These factors have served it well as Fiji’s post-pandemic tourism industry bounced back strongly as borders reopened.

The figures tell the story of a robust recovery.

In 2023, Fiji surpassed its previous record of 894,389 visitors by attracting 929,740 visitors.

It backed up again in 2024, topping this figure with 982,389 short-term arrivals.

For the first nine months of this year, visitor arrivals were up from the 2024 levels and Fiji is poised to break the 990,000 visitor threshold by the end of this year.

In terms of sheer volumes these are the best of times for Fiji tourism.

But look closer at the figures and you see a story about how tourism growth in Fiji is transforming.

A new age

Fiji is seeing a change in the demography of its visitors, they are getting older and they are spending more.

But why is this happening?

As mentioned, the nation’s traditional visitor segment has been young families. People in the 1–14 years and 25–49 years cohorts accounted for 61.2 per cent of all arrivals in 2019.

But that percentage has steadily dropped to 58.6 per cent in 2024 and now stands at 57.7 per cent.

At the same time, the number of visitors in the 65 plus age group has been rising.

In 2019, this cohort reached 77,115 and accounted for 8.6 per cent of all short-term travellers.

At present, the number of visitors in the 65 plus age group has reached 113,302 arrivals (on a moving annual total basis).

This is 11.5 per cent of total visitors, up 46.9 per cent on 2019 arrivals.

This cohort is the only age group that has been consistently rising in numbers since Fiji reopened its borders in late 2021.

It is now the highest of all age groups visiting Fiji, up from fourth in 2019.

The other age groups have lost growth momentum in recent months after increasing initially.

Most of the arrivals in the 65 plus age group are couples as the number of male and female visitors in this cohort of short-term arrivals are about the same.

And they are coming from Australia, New Zealand and the US.

Spend a little time

One inference we can draw from the changing visitor demography is that Fiji is perhaps getting expensive for families travelling with children.

The daily spend of visitors has been higher since the pandemic. Further, revenue per available room rose sharply post pandemic in response to strong demand and as at the end of 2024 was 85% higher than pre-pandemic levels. Once borders opened, the younger cohort treated themselves to a luxury holiday paid for in many ways by the excess savings buffer built up during the pandemic. Now that abnormal high savings has been drawn down and cost of living pressures remain high. Both these factors are pushing families to look for value for money travel hence stalling the growth momentum in this category of visitors.

Accordingly, some budget-conscious young families may be seeking more competitive destinations.

Visitor numbers to the Cook Islands, Samoa and Vanuatu have picked up in recent years, and this suggests that leisure travellers in Fiji’s main markets are looking for a better value proposition, particularly in the face of the rising cost of living in the source countries.

We have also seen international holiday travellers from Fiji’s source markets return in growing numbers to their favoured Asian destinations such as the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia in recent months.

Older cohorts have a higher propensity to consume leisure services. This may be due in some cases to lower levels of personal debt (as they are more likely to have paid off their home loans) and improved financial security from home values and stock market prices.

Strong property price growth drives perceptions of increased future wealth perhaps leading to less savings of their income.

So far, Fiji’s annual total tourism earnings are holding comfortably above FJD2bn.

Another inference we can draw is that it may be possible that Fiji is benefitting from multigenerational travel where senior members of the family travel with members of different generations.

A room with a view (of the beach)

So, Fiji may be wise to put in place strategies to attract more of its traditional customer base of younger families.

One key step would be addressing the shortage of rooms available as it would make Fiji’s accommodation prices more competitive particularly for school holiday travel and underwrite future tourism growth for Fiji. Another would be to fine tune and lower tourism-related taxes, fees and charges in order to make Fiji more affordable to its critical customer base of family leisure travelers.

Rabih Yazbek is ANZ Country Head Fiji