Lions Tour Boosts Visitor Arrivals

Lions Tour Boosts Visitor Arrivals

There were 28,200 short-term overseas visitor arrivals from the United Kingdom and Ireland in June 2005, an increase of 15,800 (127 percent) on June 2004, Statistics New Zealand said today. This increase, which coincided with the British and Irish Lions rugby tour of New Zealand, contributed 70 percent of the total gain in visitor arrivals for the month. There were also more visitors from Australia (up 4,900 or 9 percent) and Japan (up 1,600 or 20 percent).

In June 2005, there were 157,500 visitor arrivals to New Zealand, up 22,700 (17 percent) on June 2004. Seasonally adjusted monthly visitor arrivals were up 14 percent in June 2005, following a 6 percent rise in May 2005.

In the year ended June 2005, there were 2.404 million visitor arrivals, up 153,600 (7 percent) on the June 2004 year. Australia (up 92,700) provided 60 percent of the annual increase. There were also more visitors from the United Kingdom (up 27,400) and China (up 9,600) compared with the year ended June 2004.

New Zealand residents departed on 172,500 short-term overseas trips in June 2005, an increase of 3,500 (2 percent) on June 2004. There were more trips to Australia (up 4,400 or 6 percent) and Fiji (up 1,500 or 14 percent), but fewer trips to the United Kingdom (down 800 or 7 percent). In the year ended June 2005, there were 1.810 million New Zealand resident short-term departures, up 17 percent on the 1.548 million in the June 2004 year.

Permanent and long-term (PLT) departures exceeded arrivals by 300 in June 2005, compared with an excess of 100 departures in June 2004. The higher excess of departures in June 2005 resulted from 500 more PLT departures, partly offset by 300 more PLT arrivals.

The seasonally adjusted series recorded a net PLT inflow of 800 in both May and June 2005.

In the June 2005 year, there was a net PLT migration gain of 8,600, down 61 percent from the net inflow of 22,000 people recorded in the previous June year. This resulted from 79,100 PLT arrivals (down 5,100), and 70,500 PLT departures (up 8,300) in the June 2005 year.

Brian Pink
Government Statistician
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