Overseas visitors spending more on Visa

NEWS RELEASE

Overseas visitors spending more on Visa

Auckland, 17 October 2007 – International visitors to New Zealand spent a total of NZ$6.4 billon in 2006 with more than one third of that being paid for on Visa cards,according to Visa International’s 2006 tourism report 1 .

The total amount spent on Visa cards by visitors to New Zealand in 2006 was NZ$2.3 billion, representing nearly a nine percent increase over the previous year, while overall visitor spend increased by four percent.

Online spending emerged as a noteworthy trend of overall visitor spending, increasing from NZ$27.2 million (or one percent of total Visa spend in New Zealand in 2003) to NZ$181 million or eight percent of total Visa spend in 2006.

“It’s pleasing to see such an increase in online spending in this year’s report. E-commerce is a growing domain with a widely reported increase in the number of people using the internet for direct booking of tourism products and services,” says Iain Jamieson, Visa International’s New Zealand Country Manager.

“The top five spenders on Visa cards in New Zealand have remained the same for the past three years however cardholders from the UK spent 13 percent less in 2006 following a bumper 2005 caused largely by the Lions tour to New Zealand,” added Mr Jamieson.

The top five spenders on Visa cards in 2006 were:

• UK (NZ$528 million),

• Australia (NZ$417.5 million),

• US (NZ$269.1 million),

• South Korea (NZ$73.9 million),

• Japan (NZ$53.1 million).

Other key findings from the Visa tourism report are as follows:

1 All international visitor arrival and total spending data in New Zealand referred to in the Visa

research and in this media release is sourced from the International Visitor Survey (IVS) by

Tourism Research Australia. Visa cardholder spending is sourced from the International Visitor

Survey (IVS) by Tourism Research Australia. Visa cardholder spending is sourced from VisaNet

for the period 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2006.

Visa International (Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific) News Release

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