The 55,995 figure achieved for the month easily surpasses the previous highest ever visitor arrival figure - and four-year record - set in June 2006 when Fiji welcomed 52,795 international arrivals

The June 2010 figure brings total arrivals for the year to 272,520.

That figure in itself sets a new benchmark for Fiji and in the process eclipses the previous record set for a January-June period in 2008 - a total of 270, 856 - by an additional 1664 visitor arrivals.

An exuberant Tourism Fiji CEO Josefa Tuamoto drew attention to the ongoing strong performance being achieved in Australia which once again smashed all previous visitor figures for a month of June.

Numbers for the period reached a huge 27,651 arrivals - a massive 48.3 per cent increase over the corresponding period in 2009.

Mr Tuamoto also pointed towards the positive inroads being achieved in the New Zealand and US markets, both of which had registered substantial gains over the six month period with visitor arrival growth increasing exponentially by 16.4 and 9.1 per cent, respectively.

Mr Tuamoto said he was particularly gratified with the national tourist office’s ongoing efforts in several key emerging markets, and in particular China and India which have seen both countries emerge this year as respective eighth and ninth most important sources of visitor arrivals.

Visitor arrivals from China increased by 31.3 per cent to reach 7684 for the six month period.

Indian visitor arrivals also climbed impressively reaching 1437, an increase of 28.6 per cent.

Mr Tuamoto said traffic from the UK/Europe had also increased by 3.0 per cent, the slight but positive increase attributed to the region’s slow but steady recovery from the GFC in the period leading up to the key northern hemisphere holiday period. "These results are again indicative of the impact our overall marketing strategy for the destination is having in our various markets plus all the hard work our regional offices are putting in along with their industry colleagues,” he said. "We are still bang on course for the 600,000 'best ever visitor' target we set ourselves last year.”

Fiji's best ever international visitor figure remains the 582, 602 benchmark set for the 12 month period January - December 2008.