SUVA, July 6 (Xinhua) -- The Fijian government on Friday pledged to raise its tourism standards to increase visitor arrivals and foreign exchange earnings.

While delivering the opening address at the new Rosie Holidays Event in Fiji's third largest city of Nadi on Friday, Fiji's President Jioji Konrote said 47 percent of the Fijian government's allocation of 99.3 million Fijian dollars (about 47.2 million U.S. dollars) announced in the 2018-2019 National Budget for Fiji's Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, was allocated to the tourism sector to foster sustainable development.

The Fijian government was constantly engaging with Fijian industry stakeholders, including Fiji Airways, to have more source markets for tourism arrivals, he said, adding that Fiji receives the largest portion of visitors to the Pacific and in 2017, 39.4 percent of all visitors to the region visited Fiji.

He said Fiji's ongoing initiatives involve expanding international marketing programs to maintain Fiji's strong position in global tourism.

The Tourism Fiji Marketing Grant continues global branding initiatives in target markets to ensure that Fiji remains a top tourism destination and maintains its growth in the tourism sector.

Konrote said Fiji Airways'introduction of three flights per week between Narita in Japan and Nadi which commenced on July 3 will increase the traffic of Japanese holidaymakers and business visitors to Fiji.

He said the recent upgrade of Nadi International Airport along with full service destination management companies like Rosie Holidays, augurs well for the growth of the tourism industry.

Fiji's hosting of international sporting events like the Super Rugby Games and the Fiji International Golf Tournament leverages Fiji's image as a sport tourism destination and the broadcast of these international events to viewers across the world, showcased Fiji's profile as a premium sporting destination.

In 2017, over 2 million passengers came through Nadi International Airport.

In 2017, Fiji's visitor arrivals grew by 6.4 percent. The Fijian government has also set a target of growing the tourism industry into a 2.2 billion Fijian dollars industry (about 1 billion U.S. dollars) by 2021. Enditem