February visitor arrivals have shown a continued return to
growth and stability after last year's economic downturn.
Figures released today by Statistics New Zealand show that
Australia continues to underpin New Zealand visitor arrivals, up
4.3 per cent (3,737) in February compared with 2009. However, other
longer-haul markets are beginning to come back.
Overall, visitor arrivals were up by 4.4 per cent to 267,855
international visitors.
Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive Kevin Bowler said Australia
had now shown 11 months of strong growth, and would continue to
remain important particularly heading into the shoulder season.
"The current run of joint-venture activity by Regional Tourism
Organisations is helping ensure New Zealand's profile remains high
in Australia, building on previous work that's made New Zealand
very visible in Australia over the past year.
"Tourism New Zealand is now looking at ways to increase the
number of first-time travellers from this market, with the youth
sector offering an opportunity in this space. A new campaign
launched last weekend with MTV will help drive interest from
younger first-time travellers," Kevin Bowler said.
Visitor arrivals from China were up 40 per cent in February, but
were almost flat when combined for January and February, taking out
the effect of Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year fell in February
this year and January in 2009, skewing arrivals for these two
months.
Arrivals from the UK and US were down 4.7 and 1.0 per cent
respectively.
Kevin Bowler said that while Tourism New Zealand planned to keep
a high profile in Australia, stimulating growth in long-haul
markets including the US, UK/Europe and China remained a priority
for the longer term.
"Planning is underway around how we can improve both visitor
arrivals out of China and the quality of the experience Chinese
visitors enjoy in New Zealand, in order to maximise the massive
potential of this market."
International Visitor Arrivals February 2010:
- Australia - 91,275; up 4.3%
- UK - 40,475; down 4.7%
- USA - 25,300; down 1.0%
- China - 16,975; up 40.6%
- Japan - 9,975; up 0.9%
- Germany - 9,650; up 1.1%
- South Korea - 5,275; up 4.2%
- Canada - 7,250; down 3.3%
Get full
visitor arrivals statistics and read more about our markets
For more information contact:
Cas Carter - 021 915 410; casc@tnz.govt.nz
Twitter : @TNZNews