Australia

Market Overview

Australia is New Zealand's largest inbound tourism market, accounting for around half of all visitors. There were 1,146,273 million Australian visitor arrivals to New Zealand in the year ended November 2011. This was up 2.8 percent from the year ended November 2010 (source: Ministry of Economic Development).

Australian holiday arrivals to New Zealand rose 1.3 per cent for the same period (year end November 2011), with more than 400,000 expatriate New Zealanders living in Australia. There is also a strong base of Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) travel.

The average visitor spend per person is $1,598.00 which represents a total of $1.655 billion per annum in total expenditure from the Australia market.

Key Statistics

International Visitor Arrivals March 2012

Year End Total 1,168,316 5.1%
Year End (Holiday) 461,696 3.7%
Month End Total 102,016 9.0%
Month End (Holiday) 37,584 13.6%
Total Stay Days* 12,284,624
Total Stay Days (Holiday)* 5,116,016
Average Length of Stay* 10.5 days
Average Length of Stay (Holiday)* 11.1 days

International Visitor Survey - YE March 2012

Average Expenditure per Visit NZD1,500
Total Expenditure per Annum NZD1.649b

Market Insights

Official New Zealand Government forecasts are for Australian visitor arrivals to reach 1.24 million in 2012 (source: New Zealand Tourism Forecasts 2010-2016). One of the drivers of expected growth...

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Click here for more information on Australian holiday arrivals in 2011 including seasonality, state of origin, where they are arriving in New Zealand, which regions they are visiting and the types of activities and attractions they are doing while in New Zealand.

For more information including tourism research and data, policy, and publications please see the Ministry of Economic Development.