Australian visitors contributed $1.59 billion to New Zealand’s economy in the 12 months to June 2023, while holiday arrivals are around 81% recovered. This compares to 1.32 billion in 2019.

High quality visitors contribute positively to our culture, environment, society, and economy. They tend to stay longer, spend more, travel to more regions and across different seasons and engage positively with our environment and local communities.

“Australian visitors are high quality - visiting evenly across all our seasons and different regions, staying on average 11 days and spending around $333 per day.

“Tourism New Zealand is focused on targeting high-quality visitors who stay longer and spend more, ensuring tourism gives back more than it takes. It’s about the quality of the visitors, not the volume of visitors.

“Tourism is a critical contributor to New Zealand’s economy and it’s important we continue to position New Zealand as an attractive destination for high-quality Australian visitors,” concludes Mr de Monchy.

Tourism New Zealand’s winter campaign in the Australian market supported the positive arrival and spend figures. The activity ran between April-June 2023 and showcased New Zealand’s ski slopes, Canterbury Hot Tubs, Ruapehu Waterfalls, Queenstown Hikes, 4WD and stargazing.