The Blue Swan Daily – 07 August 2019
Vanuatu is preparing for an influx of Asian visitors as the small island country in the South Pacific increases in popularity. The nation has historically relied on attracting visitors from nearby countries within the Oceania region – primarily Australia and New Zealand. Its tourism industry is keen to diversify by attracting new source markets, particularly in Asia.
There were fewer than 8,000 visitor arrivals from Asia in 2018. However, the Asia market has been growing rapidly; in 2013 there were less than 4,000 visitor arrivals from Asia. China has been the main driver with Chinese visitor numbers increasing from 1,000 in 2013 to 4,000 in 2018. Indian, Japanese and Korean visitor numbers have also been increasing rapidly but from an even smaller base.
During this same period Australian visitor numbers decreased by 8% – from 66,000 to in 2013 to 61,000 in 2018. Australia is still Vanuatu’s largest source market by a wide margin, accounting for 52% of total visitor numbers in 2018.
