The January celebration of Chinese New Year has contributed to a
drop in visitor arrivals for February 2012 when compared to
February 2011. However, annual arrivals continue to grow and were
up 2.3 per cent year on year.
February 2012 is down 3.4 per cent against the same month last
year, according to the International Travel and Migration figures
released today by Statistics New Zealand.
Tourism New Zealand's Chief Executive Kevin Bowler says the
early Chinese New Year celebrations this year resulted in January
achieving a record number of visitor arrivals.
"The flip side of having a record January is that February is
down on last year when Chinese New Year was celebrated in
February.
"But the market does present growth, with combined arrivals for
January and February confirming arrivals from China were up 6,100,
a growth of 18.7 per cent against the same months of 2011."
Australian arrivals are up 2,000 for the month, with 3.5 per
cent growth in holiday arrivals.
"While overall holiday arrivals were down 5.8 per cent against
February 2011, the growth in holiday arrivals from our traditional
markets is positive with Germany up 4.1 per cent, Canada up 3.0 per
cent and France up 4.0 per cent for the month."
Holiday arrivals from Asia also continue to grow with Singapore
up 28.0 per cent, Korea up 21.4 per cent and Malaysia up 122.7 per
cent against the same month last year.
"The growth in arrivals from Malaysia reinforces the untapped
demand from this region.
"It is clear that South Asia represents strong growth
opportunities. We will continue to promote New Zealand alongside
the travel trade and airlines servicing these really important
markets to ensure convenient connections to New Zealand are
maintained for potential visitors," he said.
ENDS
Issued by Leah Phelps, Senior Communications Advisor, Tourism
New Zealand
leahp@tnz.govt.nz; phone
+64 21 843 896