Australian Visitors Hold Up Arrivals Figures

MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
21 May 2009

Australian Visitors Hold Up Arrivals Figures

Australian visitor arrivals continued to offset softening numbers in other long-haul markets during March and April.

Statistics New Zealand figures out today showed that a late Easter led to a 9.2% jump in international arrivals for April; almost 16,500 visitors.

When the two months of March and April are combined, to remove the effect of Easter, arrivals were down 1.8%.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said despite an overall slight decline, it was good to see Australian arrivals had increased over the combined two month period.

Total arrivals from Australia were up 7% over the combined months of March and April compared with the same two months last year. Australian holiday arrivals were up 9.8%.

“Competition in Australia is mounting for consumers’ travel dollars, both from domestic Australian and international promotional campaigns. Given the current economic climate, it is important for New Zealand to retain our profile in our largest visitor market and to build on the equity we have developed for our brand,” Mr Hickton said.

Tourism New Zealand has been promoting heavily in Australia in recent months starting with an early bird ski campaign in February. This was followed by further work run in partnership with Air New Zealand to promote travel to New Zealand along with Air New Zealand’s “It’s Our Shout” free domestic ticket sale.

A combined winter and ski holiday campaign is also currently running.

In March, New Zealand gained an additional $2.5 million of Government funding for Australian promotional work.

International Visitor Arrivals April 2009:

• Australia 90,508 up 22.8%
• UK 17,930 up 1.0%
• USA 14,388 up 1.4%
• Canada 3,212 up 6.2%
• China 10,670 down 6.0%
• Korea 3,806 down 45.5%
• Japan 6,072 down 15.7%

ENDS

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