Chinese tourists vital for tourism development of Pacific island countries: Fijian official

Tourism is the most important industry in Fiji and the biggest foreign exchange earner for the country.

Fiji has in recent years received more than 800,000 visitors per year. The Fijian government has set a goal of developing the tourism industry to a 2.2 billion Fijian dollars ($1 billion) industry by 2021.

Currently, China is Fiji's fourth largest tourist market and tourism earnings from the Chinese market account for close to 5 percent of the country's total tourism earnings.

For his part, Chinese Ambassador to Fiji Qian Bo said that over the past decades, China and Fiji have enjoyed very good relations and the Chinese tourists will not only help develop the Pacific island countries' tourism but also further the understanding and friendship between the peoples of the countries.

Sun Jie, director of China Cultural Center in Fiji, said that the arrival of these Chinese tourists, the first-ever largest tourist group in recent years, is a major event in the history of the cultural and tourism cooperation between China and Fiji.