Solomon Islands recorded 15,358 international arrivals in Q2 2026, with visitor arrivals rising 33.5% from the previous quarter.
A total of 15,358 international arrivals of were recorded in the second quarter of 2026, an increase of 27.7% compared to the previous quarter (1st quarter 2026).
Compared to the same quarter a year ago, total arrivals significantly increased by 9.7%. Visitors and returning residents comprised about half of all arrivals respectively, in the second quarter of 2026 with visitors recording 50.1% and returning residents recording 49.5% of all arrivals.
Visitor arrivals for the second quarter increased by 33.5% to 7,688 visitors, compared to the first quarter 2026 figure of 5,759 visitors.
From the second quarter of 2025 to the second quarter of 2026, visitor arrivals increased by 15.1%. Chart 1 shows that both visitors and returning residents comprised about similar share of total arrivals, although visitors slightly outpace the number of returning residents while intending resident categories made up the lesser share this quarter.
Arrivals by country of residence for the second quarter of 2026 showed that visitors from Australia comprised the largest (27.0%) group of visitors to the Solomon Islands. This was an increase of 24.5% in arrivals representing 2,075 Australian visitors in the second quarter of 2026, compared to the previous quarter figure of 1,666.
The next largest group of visitors was from China (15.0%), followed by Papua New Guinea (9.8%), Other Asian Countries (9.3%), Fiji (8.6%), the United States of America (7.5%), New Zealand (5.3%), Vanuatu (4.9%), Other Pacific Countries (3.4%), Other European Countries (3.2%), Japan (2.0%), the United Kingdom (1.7%), Other Countries (1.0%), and less than 1% for Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and France.
Visitor arrivals by month showed that June recorded the highest number of visitors in the second quarter of 2026, with 2,894 visitors.
This was followed by March with 2,410 visitors, April with 2,406 visitors, and the least was May with 2,388 visitors.
The second quarter of 2026 recorded 2,835 tourists, out of which 2,324 tourists reported having a holiday and vacation as their purpose of travel. Tourists spent an average of 10 days in the country. Australia made up the highest proportion of tourists (25.8%) during the quarter.
The most common reasons for visitors visiting the Solomon Islands during the quarter was for Holiday and Vacation (30.2%) and Other Reasons (27.7%). This was followed by Business and Conference (22.6%), Visit Friends or Relatives (12.9%), and Transit and Stopover (6.6%).
The distribution of visitor arrivals by broad age groups for the second quarter of 2026 showed that 75.3% of visitors were in the 25 to 64-year-old age range. The youngest age group, 0-24 years, comprised 8.2%, and the oldest age group, 65 years and over, represented 10.2% of total visitor arrivals. The remaining 6.3% were visitors who did not state their age.
In addition, male visitors represented more than half of the total visitor arrivals (65.5%), with female visitors making up 34.5% of all arrivals during the quarter.
Visitors by Occupation Visitors by Occupation showed that the “Professional and Technical” category comprised the largest percentage of occupations (31.3%) during the quarter. This was followed by Production and Related Work (17.5%), Administration and Managerial (16.4%), Not Working (13.2%), Student (5.8%), Sales Worker (4.9%), Service Worker (3.8%), Clerical and related work (2.5%), Other Occupation (2.2%), and Visitors did not state their Occupation (1.2%).
The remaining 1.1% of visitors were in Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. Males outnumbered females in all visitor arrivals by occupation, from professional to Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries.
Visitor by Carrier The most popular carriers during the quarter were Air Niugini which carried 36.3% of total visitors, followed by Qantas (27.5%), Solomon Airlines (25.8%), Fiji Airways (7.9%), Unscheduled Flights (1.6%), and Air Nauru (0.9%).
Visitor Arrivals to Munda Brisbane-Munda flights commenced their weekly schedule in January 2026.
However, reporting of the 2nd Quarter 2026 (including 1st Quarter 2026) Brisbane-Munda visitor statistics is planned to be updated in the release of the third quarter of 2026.
This is due to the delay in receiving arrival cards from Munda immigration.
SOURCE// STATISTICS OFFICE PRESS RELEASE
