A solid year of international arrivals for New Zealand

For immediate release

Monday 21 July, 2014

A solid year of international arrivals for New Zealand

Arrivals to the year-end June have shown stellar performance from key international visitor markets says Tourism New Zealand - with total annual arrival growth of 5.7 per cent equating to 150,000 extra visitors.

“The last 12 months have delivered some fantastic arrivals to New Zealand – with each month delivering increases year-on-year,” says Kevin Bowler, Chief Executive.

“To end our financial year with strong outcomes across our core markets is incredibly positive. It gives us further confidence in our activity, as we head into the new year, with our focus on continuing to deliver value to the tourism industry and the New Zealand economy.

“The past year has delivered impressive growth from New Zealand’s traditional western markets, in particular arrivals from Germany are up 16.6 per cent, the UK up 2.8 per cent, and the USA up 11.7 per cent.

“Our nearest and biggest market Australia continued to grow, up 4.4 per cent for the year.

“This was accompanied by strong growth from Asian markets, including Singapore up 18.6 per cent and Malaysia up 19.4 per cent, as well as the emerging markets of Indonesia up 16.9 per cent and India up 13.3 per cent.

Arrivals from China were up 8.0 per cent for the year.

“While still in growth, this is clearly a change from the double digit figures we have seen in previous years and is largely due to the introduction of the China Travel Law in October 2013.

“However, what we are seeing is a positive change in the arrivals mix from China, with most of the growth coming from independent travellers, rather than short stay group tours, resulting in longer lengths of stay and more value per arrival.”

Overall international arrivals for the month of June were up 1.7 per cent compared to June 2013.

“We have seen a slightly slower start to the ski season compared to last year when we had record levels of snow fall very early in the season. In turn, Australian arrivals were down 0.4 per cent for the month.

“However, last week’s cold snap is sure to see this change as we head into the main ski months of July – September.”

Looking at the monthly arrivals on the same month last year; good growth was seen across Asia, with China up 7.8 per cent, Singapore up 11.9 per cent and Malaysia up 32.5 per cent. Japan, up 42.1 per cent, built on last month’s growth as a result of the continued increased capacity on the route.

The North American markets also increased, with the US up 4.8 per cent and Canada up 6.1 per cent for the month.

ENDS

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