There are high hopes that the tourism industry will bounce back soon as the Reserve Bank of Fiji said there is some indication that visitor arrivals are picking up in recent months.

The RBF said while visitor arrivals continue to perform lower than last year, the industry expects the hotel occupancy rates to improve to around 70 percent in the months ahead from around an average of the current 40 percent occupancy rate.

The Reserve Bank further states that cumulative to April, visitor arrivals fell by 19 percent compared with a drop of 23 percent to March.

The RBF said the sugar cane crushing season commenced in May and this will engender more economic activity in the cane growing areas, and is also expected to increase consumption.