Fishing, offshore financial services, and tourism, with 46,000 visitors in 1996, are other mainstays of the economy. A small light industry sector caters to the local market.
Tax revenues come mainly from import duties.
Economic development is hindered by dependence on relatively few commodity exports, vulnerability to natural disasters, and long distances from main markets and between constituent islands. In addition, the government has maintained Vanuatu's pre-independence status as a tax haven and international financial center. About 2,300 registered institutions offer a wide range of offshore banking, investment, legal, accounting, and insurance and trust-company services. Vanuatu has also opened an international shipping register in New York City. A series of cyclones in early 1992 adversely affected export crops and tourism, and growth in 1992 was negligible.