Japan

Japan remains an important source of visitors from Asia , with the highest proportion of leisure visitors of any of our key markets. Seventy-eight per cent of Japanese visitors to New Zealand travel here on holiday.

However, total visitor numbers from Japan have been in decline since June 2005. In the year ending May 2008, 115,253 visitors came to New Zealand, 9.8 per cent less than the previous year. This figure is expected to decrease annually by 0.5 per cent between 2006 and 2013.

Sixty-nine per cent of Japanese visitors are visiting New Zealand for the first time, with about the same percentage of visitors indicating they would like to travel to New Zealand again in the future. The destination is particularly popular with older travellers.

Demand for higher quality and higher yielding products has firmed up in recent months, which signals that the affluent sector of the senior travel market still has a strong preference for New Zealand.

Tourism New Zealand is continuing its work to recover the Japanese market, with targeted events and marketing campaigns. A new $1.8 million tourism campaign launched into the market in November 2007, with TV, press, magazine, radio and online advertising. It ran through until the end of February 2008.