SUVA, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Fiji, a South Pacific island state with a population of more than 880,000, received 842,884 visitors last year, up 6.4 percent compared with 2016.

It was announced by Fiji's Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama at a tourism event here in Suva, the capital of the country on Saturday.

"Achieving record numbers of foreign visitors and attracting multi-million-dollar resorts is an accomplishment," he said.

The prime minister described tourism as already the largest single contributor to the island state's gross domestic product (GDP).

And he pledged that his government is dedicated to finding new and innovative ways to continue to grow Fiji's tourism industry in a sustained manner.

The visitor numbers in 2017 from New Zealand (184,595) and the United States (81,198) were the highest ever in a given year.

Tourism industry has become Fiji's largest source of foreign exchange earnings. Tourism earnings for 2017 is expected to come at around 1.7 billion Fijian dollars (about 845 million U.S. dollars) and arrivals to rise by about 5 percent for 2018.