The Tourism Authority of Kiribati has released its Quarter 4 2023 Tourism Industry Review. The reports focus on international arrivals, domestic tourism data, and other tourism-relevant data. It compares the Q4 international visitor arrivals with Q4 2019, showing the progress after the covid19.
When comparing the Q4 2019 and Q4 2023 visitor arrivals, Kiribati has received an increase in the number of visitors visiting Kiribati, an increase of 20%, due to the frequent flight to Tarawa. This has indicated a steady influx into Kiribati, however, in this quarter a drop in the number of visitors experienced, a drop of 12% when comparing it with Q3 2023.
The top source markets for this quarter were Pacific islanders 31% (721) followed by Australia 14% (329) and USA 13% (290). A new emerging market for this quarter was Other Asian countries with 9% (206) visitors.
Most visitors to Kiribati came for both business and pleasure, with Pacific nationals primarily visiting for work, while visitors from the USA and New Zealand topped the list for leisure purposes.
The report also highlights the trends in the tourism supply, domestic tourism travel, and museum visitation data to name a few which contribute to enhancing the understanding of the tourism current status.
An interesting and most captivating change in visitor trends in Q4 2023 was an increase in the average length of stay for religious visitors when compared to previous quarters. These religious visitors spend 20.7 nights which is higher than the night spend by visitors who came for other purpose of visits.
TAK would like to express its appreciation to Air Kiribati Limited, Marine Guard Division, Immigration Department, Te Umwanibong, Kiribati Customs Office, Shipping Agencies of Kiribati (SAOK), Kiribati National Statistics Office (KNSO) and Tourism operators. Their collaboration and support have been instrumental in gathering relevant data and insights, making this report a comprehensive and robust assessment of the tourism sector in Kiribati.
