Early signs of recovery are being seen for the New Zealand
tourism industry, with a growth in September arrivals figures.
Statistics New Zealand figures released today showed that total
arrivals for September increased 9.3 per cent on the same month
last year; an additional 14,700 international visitors.
Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive George Hickton said the
figures signalled a recovery in arrivals after the impact of the
economic downturn and Influenza A (H1N1), which hit arrivals from
Asia particularly hard earlier in the year.
"Today's figures show our top five markets are all showing
significant improvement on last month, which is great news for the
industry heading into the crucial summer season," George Hickton
said.
"The US and China are recovering, Japan and the UK appear to
have stabilised and Australia is still showing strong growth with
holiday arrivals up 25 per cent in September; so Australia
continues to be the foundation for our recovery," George Hickton
added.
Tourism New Zealand's 'Which New Zealand Are You This Time'
campaign was launched in Australia in August and will continue to
run till November. Campaigns are also running in the UK and Europe
ahead of the peak booking season, and in China. More competitive
airfares and an improvement in confidence are helping stimulate US
outbound travel.
George Hickton added that later booking trends among travellers
were making it hard to predict summer results.
"Early indications are that summer is going to start slowly but
pick up and we are certainly pleased to see some recovery in
markets like the US and China, which are major contributors to New
Zealand's long-haul arrivals," Geore Hickton said.
Read
more about our markets under 'Markets and Stats'
International Visitor Arrivals September
2009:
- Australia - 94,962 up 15.4%
- UK - 10,542 down 0.4%
- USA - 10,038 up 9.9%
- China - 6,342 up 15.4 %
- Japan - 6,258 down 3.5%
- Germany - 3,255 up 4.8%
- South Korea - 3,045 down 33.5%
- Canada - 2,058 down 3.8%
For further information contact:
Cas Carter, Corporate Communications,
Tourism New Zealand
Mob 021 915 410