The Australian market is buoying visitor numbers to New Zealand as the industry starts to see some signs of recovery.
Figures released today by Statistics New Zealand show visitor
arrivals growing for a second consecutive month. Arrivals were up 7.7
per cent for the month of October, almost thirteen and a half thousand
more visitors than the same month last year. Overall, for the year
ended October, there have been one per cent fewer visitors than 2008.
Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive George Hickton said the
additional investment into marketing in Australia has helped keep the
decline in visitor numbers overall to a minimum in what has been a
tough year for the industry.
"Australia continues to be the foundation of growth in visitor
numbers, with the increase of 22.2 per cent (15,916 visitors) in
October continuing a year of record growth for this market. Buoyed by
consistent marketing, good value airfares, a strong Australian dollar
and high consumer confidence, arrivals from Australia are up 9.7 per
cent (1,061,363 visitors) for the year to end of October."
However, George Hickton says the industry is seeing a gradual
turnaround in consumer confidence in many of New Zealand’s key tourism
markets.
"The upcoming summer season is looking more positive as the global
economic situation slowly improves. While we expect summer to start
slower, the general feeling is that things will pick up post-Christmas.
"The current picture is that many markets will end up on par with
last year, but we are expecting to see improving growth trends as the
summer progresses, particularly out of China, the US and parts of
Europe," George Hickton said.
China has begun to return to strength after more than a year of
declining arrivals, with arrivals up 16.5 per cent (to a total of 7,636
visitors) compared with October last year. This increase coincided with
a major national holiday in China, National Day Golden Week, which fell
between 1 - 8 October this year.
George Hickton says the NZD20 million additional Government funding
announced in November will enable Tourism New Zealand to further push
arrivals over the summer season and into 2010.
"Our focus will be on where we are best able to stimulate growth.
Australia remains important, but we will also be looking to recover the
long-haul markets over summer, with spend being directed to the US,
UK/Europe and China."
International Visitor Arrivals October 2009:
• Australia 87,676 up 22.2%
• UK 16,629 down 7.5%
• US 13,984 down 2.1%
• China 7,636 up 16.5 %
• Japan 6,072 down 9.6%
• Germany 5,313 up 3.9%
• South Korea 3,933 down 33.1%
• Canada 3,243 down 6.8%
Source: Tourism New Zealand Media Release
*The International Visitor Arrivals (IVA) survey provides monthly statistics on Inbound travel by international visitors to
New Zealand , including visitors by country, purpose, length of stay, age, sex, port of arrival and mode of transport (air/sea).
IVA statistics are obtained from the monthly External Migration survey undertaken by Statistics New Zealand, using international passenger arrival and departure cards collected by Customs at various international airports and seaports in
New Zealand .
The same survey also provides Outbound travel statistics of
New Zealand residents on short-term overseas trips for a period less than 12 months.
