THE Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCA) is optimistic that the country’s tourism industry will achieve its target of be a billion-dollar industry by 2035.
MCA Permanent Secretary Banyan Sivoro expressed optimism about the future of the tourism industry as a major foreign receipt earner through increased visitor arrivals when the MCA ministerial Executive appeared before the Public Accounts Committee as part of the Parliamentary scrutiny process into the 2025 Budget – 2025 Supplementary Appropriation Bill 2024 last week.
PS Sivoro said with an increased budget allocation of SBD 36.4 million for MCA in the 2025 Budget, the overarching plan for the tourism sector is to stimulate the rate of visitor arrivals over the next 10 years – 2025 to 2035. MCA received a SBD26.5million budget allocation in the 2024 Budget.
“Beginning next year, we are planning to achieve 100,000 visitor arrivals in 2035.
With that high figure of visitors targeted, the tourism sector is projected to be a billion-dollar industry and I’m very confident that this is achievable.”
PS Sivoro said the ongoing infrastructure upgrades to airports in the country, new hotel developments coming up in Honiara and the provinces, new unique tourism products like the Bloody Ridge and the new scientific finding of the largest coral in the world in Makira-Ulawa Province, the opening up of the new tourism markets, especially in China, the ordinary passport visa-exemption between Solomon Islands and China, the upgrade of the Honiara Airport to allow for direct flights from China, will see an increased demand on the country’s tourism market.
He added that the hosting of the Oceania Rugby Sevens and the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Prime Minister’s (PM’s) Cup in Honiara this month will also help drive the visitor numbers that the country’s tourism industry expects to achieve.
PS Sivoro said MCA is also working on investable sites, which it hopes will also drive investments in the country.
“So far with the support from the Millennium Challenge Cooperation Threshold program we have already provided 120 plus investment ready sites in the Western Province, Guadalcanal Province and Central Islands Province. Some of these are already in the market. We have already engaged a consultant to start talks with the potential investors. So, these are some of the positive developments which we think will trigger growth that we are anticipating in our tourism sector.
“So, when we reach the 100,000-visitor arrival target, tourism will become a billion-dollar industry. With all the spending tourists make per trip when calculated, we can elevate our tourism industry to become a billion-dollar industry. So that is why you will note that there is an increase in our budget for next year and this is the first time for the ministry to receive such big increase,” he said.
PS Sivoro added that if the country focuses on developing its natural, cultural and historical assets, they will also drive increased tourist demand.
He said since the reopening of the country’s international borders in July 2022 after the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of visitor arrivals slowly recovered.
“Although we started slowly for the six months of 2022, we recorded 6700 plus arrivals and last year, we managed to receive 26,000 in visitor arrivals about 5000 to 6000 for the Pacific Games.
“This year from January to August, we received 16000 visitor arrivals and this represents 26.5 percent increased arrivals compared to the same period in 2023. We expect that we should return to the 2019 figures by the end of next year, which is 30,000 per annum,” PS Sivoro said.
PS Sivoro said a survey conducted this year shows that one visitor per trip contributes USD2572 dollars to the economy, which is equivalent to SBD21,582 on average, adding that visitors spend an average of eight days per trip.
“So, if we complete the economic contribution of the tourism sector just for the January to August period, the tourism sector contributed USD41.3 million to our economy, which is equivalent to around SBD342.8 million. Sometimes we will hardly see these because they do not go directly to the Consolidated Budget of our government but directly into our economy.
“So, with that small number of visitors we have had, we already experienced big impacts to our economy,” he added.
By IAN LADDS OSO
Solomon Star, Honiara
