International visitor spend up to $6.4 billion

International visitor spend up 4.0% to $6.4 billion

EMBARGOED until 30 March 2007 - 11:00am

The International Visitor Survey for the year ended December 2006 has been released by the Ministry of Tourism.

The headline result estimates total international visitor expenditure in New Zealand to be $6.4 billion in 2006, up 4% on the previous year. This release incorporates a revision to 2005 estimates (refer footnote on Page 2).

New Zealand's top three markets continue to spend strongly on tourism activities in New Zealand - Australia $1.5 billion, United Kingdom $950 million and the USA $700 million.

Japan remains New Zealand's fourth largest market at $475 million, although spend and visitor numbers are at a lower level than previous years. The North Asia markets of China and South Korea increased their spending although they have yet to recover to the levels achieved when they had a higher education component in their visitor mix.

More than half of the total visitor spend is by Holiday travellers ($3.5 billion). Visiting Friends and Family is the next largest group ($1.2 billion) followed by Business travellers ($883 million).

"This result affirms that the New Zealand tourism industry is operating at a high level and contributes a very large foundation of economic activity to the New Zealand economy," said Bruce Bassett, the Ministry's Research Manager.

For further information on the release of International Visitor Survey data please visit the Ministry of Tourism research website (www.tourismresearch.govt.nz) or www.tourismresearch.govt.nz www.tourism.govt.nz

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