SUVA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Fiji's tourism earnings achieved a record 1.9 billion Fijian dollars (about 891 million U.S. dollars) in 2018, according to a Fijian government statement on Wednesday.

The tourism industry continues to perform exceptionally as Fiji's largest foreign exchange earner during the period of January-November 2018, with total arrivals recording 793,239, a 3.6 percent rise over the same period in 2017, said the statement.

For the first time ever, in July 2018, visitor arrivals to the island nation exceeded 95,000 for a given month, setting Fiji on the path and paved the way for another record-breaking year in terms of visitor arrivals.

In 2017, the island nation with a population of more than 880,000, received 842,884 visitor arrivals, a 6.4 percent increase from 2016.

Fiji's Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism Premila Kumar said on Wednesday that in line with the Fiji Tourism 2021 Plan, the government wants to keep the industry on track to achieve the target of 2.2 billion Fijian dollars (about 1.03 billion U.S. dollars).

"Tourism Fiji has set an ambitious program of events and activities for 2019 which was well received by our industry partners at the Industry Day 2018. This will continue to drive demand for the destination and we are excited to see their plans unfold during this year," Kumar added.

For Fiji, the tourism industry's combined direct and indirect contributions to GDP average above 30 percent and the industry provides direct and indirect employment to an estimated 45,000 people.