THE total visitor arrivals to the Solomon Islands over the past years show an increasing trend up till 2019 with 28,930 visitors but significantly declined towards 2021 with 737 visitors due to COVID restrictions and measures imposed by Solomon Island Government.
The National Statistics Office released the latest International Arrivals Statistical bulletin on Thursday 5th May 2022.
Government Statistician Douglas Kimi said a decrease of 83.4% of visitors to 737 was recorded in 2021 compared to 2020 with 4,440 visitors.
“Returning residents account for more than half (72.2%) of the total arrivals in 2021.
“This is followed by Visitor Arrivals with 26.2% and Intending Residents with more than 1% of the arrivals.”
Mr. Kimi said arrivals by category show that Returning residents and Visitors make up the largest proportion of all arrivals, increasing from 97.3% in 2016 to 99.1% in 2019.
“A drastic decline of both categories was shown in 2020 and 2021 figures despite accounting for the highest proportion of arrivals,” he said.
“Intending residents have declined from 2.7% of all arrivals in 2016 to 1.6% in 2021
“A decrease in Visitor arrivals was evident for all countries of residence in 2021 compared to 2020 arrivals.”
Meanwhile, a significant decline was recorded for the following markets: Other Pacific (99.1%), other Europe (99.0%), United Kingdom (98.6%), Vanuatu (97.9%), United States of America (96.7%) France (96.6%).
There were Zero or no visitors from Germany, Canada, Hong Kong, Netherlands, and Italy who visited the Solomon Islands in 2021.
Australians remain the largest group of visitors (45.7%) to the Solomon Islands with a figure of 337 in 2021 although in absolute terms this was a substantial decrease compared to the 2020 figure of 1,814.
SOURCE: SINSO PRESS
