Data released by the Statistics Office showed that 6,621 tourists arrived in January 2015, a 196 person decrease (-2.9 per cent) as compared to January 2014.
Despite the decline from 2014, the 6,621 arrivals is the second highest on record for a January (January 2014 being the highest January on record).
55 per cent of total visitor arrivals (3,624) came from New Zealand and 19 per cent (1,234) came from Australia.
Updated 8 January 2015, 12:00 AEDT
Pacific nations are aiming to dramatically improve their gathering of population statistics over the next decade.
Gathering facts and figures on births, deaths, marriages and health problems are vitally important to governments to assist in deciding what programs to implement.
The 10-year campaign, focussing on civil registration and vital statistics, was agreed on at an Asia-Pacific ministerial meeting held in Thailand late last year.
The Cook Islands Health Minister, Nandi Glassie, in his interview with Radio Australia says that while gathering accurate statistics sounds boring, it is something that Pacific nations need to focus on if they want to make good decisions.
Presenter: Bruce Hill
Speaker: Nandi Glassie, Cook Islands Health Minister
November 2014 visitor arrivals were 9,417, a decrease of 934 (-9.0 per cent) compared to visitor arrivals in November 2013. November arrivals have been performing well for the last 2 years (November 2012 and 2013) with arrivals exceeding 10,000 in both years.
The decline was driven mainly by a fall in Australian arrivals of 715 (a 30.2 per cent fall compared to November 2013), with a further 284 fall coming from New Zealand arrivals (a 4.6 per cent fall from November 2013). European arrivals were the only market to show an increase, with 195 more arrivals than in November 2013.
While the monthly visitor arrivals for the last three months have been volatile, the overall performance has been consistent with the 2014/15 Budget forecasts. The Australian market continues to be a key focus for the Cook Islands so the performance of their arrivals will be looked at closely over the next few months.