Japan

Market Overview

Japan is New Zealand's fifth-largest international tourism market in terms of international visitor arrivals. Despite strong year on year growth in late 2010 and into the start of 2011, arrivals from the market have declined by 28.6 per cent in the year ending February 2012 as the Japan market recovers from slow demand to New Zealand following the earthquakes in both New Zealand and Japan in 2011.

In the year to February 2012, 63,624 Japanese travellers visited New Zealand staying an average of 19.6 days and spending an average of NZD $3,179 each. There is a reasonable level of repeat travel from Japan, with just under a third of all Japanese visitors coming to New Zealand more than once. Tourism New Zealand is working on ways to grow this repeat travel even further.

Key Statistics

International Visitor Arrivals March 2012

Year End Total 65,052 23.8%
Year End (Holiday) 41,980 30.8%
Month End Total 8,208 21.1%
Month End (Holiday) 5,488 37.5%
Total Stay Days* 1,235,084
Total Stay Days (Holiday)* 476,292
Average Length of Stay* 19 days
Average Length of Stay (Holiday)* 11.3 days

International Visitor Survey - YE March 2012

Average Expenditure per Visit NZD3,600
Total Expenditure per Annum NZD224m

Market Insights

Arrival numbers from Japan were up 11 per cent prior to the earthquake in Christchurch on 22 February 2011. However, this growth has since fallen in the 2011 year...

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