Domestic visitor spend softens

Domestic visitor spend softens

Research just released by the Ministry of Tourism shows that spending by
domestic travellers within New Zealand, in the year to December 2005,
decreased by 5.4% to $6.8 billion.

‘’These results come as no surprise,” says Bruce Bassett, Research Manager,
Ministry of Tourism. “The weakness of domestic travel activity has been a
phenomenon we’ve been seeing for some time.”

“It is clear that in 2005 when conditions for overseas travel were highly
favorable because of the high New Zealand dollar, affordable trans-Tasman
flights and all-inclusive Pacific holiday packages, New Zealanders opted to go
offshore rather than holiday at home.”

Mr Bassett says that New Zealand has, effectively, experienced a switch from
domestic to international travel, and this is a characteristic that is being widely seen around the world, including by Australia and many European countries.

“This pattern is expected to soften into 2006 as the New Zealand currency weakens in relation to our destination markets, but it is also clear that New
Zealanders have a great propensity to see the world, and this is unlikely to
change.”

The research shows that spending on overnight trips fell by 6.4% to $4.2
billion and day trip spending fell by 3.9% to 2.6 billion. A key factor that may
have affected the overall spend is that expenditure on transportation
increased by 10% to $2.1 billion in 2005 compared to the previous year.

The Domestic Travel Survey is a telephone survey of 15,000 New Zealand residents undertaken throughout the year. Data for the year ending March
2006 will become available in October. A range of data and reports from the
survey are available on the Tourism Research Council New Zealand website
– www.trcnz.govt.nz.

ENDS

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