CI Times Weekly | Current Issue 273 | 20 October 2008
Visitor figures trend downwards
The Tourism Corporation has released the visitor arrival figures for September 2008 and these show the number of visitors are down 1.3% when compared to September last year(see table).
When the year to date (Oct 2007-September 2008) is taken into account, the visitor figure is down 2% on the previous year to date.
Noticeable is the inclusion in the totals of the figures for visiting Cook Islanders. Their inclusion boosts the grand total figures (see table).
It is inappropriate to include the number of visiting Cook Islanders because they are not “visitors” in the true sense. Their visits are not in response to any marketing by the Corporation. What “output” do they fall under? How much of the budget was spent on attracting Cook Islanders home for a visit?