International visitor arrivals figures out today have confirmed that it
has been a slow start to the peak season for the New Zealand tourism
industry.
Statistics New Zealand figures for the month of November show visitor
arrivals were up just 0.3 per cent compared with the same month last
year, to 219,939 arrivals.
Tourism New Zealand Acting Chief Executive Tim Hunter says the figures
indicate that New Zealand’s long-haul markets are still feeling the
pinch of the global recession.
"It’s been a tough year for tourism globally, so the fact that we’ve
ended 2009 down just 0.6 per cent shows how hard the New Zealand
tourism industry has worked to drive visitor numbers in a difficult
environment," says Tim Hunter.
Australia continues to be New Zealand’s ‘banker market’, with 7,300
more visitors crossing the Tasman to New Zealand last month compared
with November 2008 (up 9.5 per cent).
"The economic situation remains fragile in key markets including the US
and UK, and we can expect to see this reflected in visitor numbers in
the short term. The general feeling is that arrivals will be subdued
for the first part of the peak season, but we expect to see an
improving trend in some long-haul markets in the first quarter of 2010."
Tourism New Zealand’s priorities for 2010 will be on recovery of long-haul markets where arrivals are still showing declines.
"We will be going back into the UK with campaign activity in January. A
large-scale project with Air New Zealand will launch early in the New
Year and is expected to help drive recovery in arrivals from the US.
"We are also continuing to keep pressure on those markets and sectors
that have remained strong throughout the recession, including the
backpacker market and smaller European markets."
Chinese advertising activity will extend into Beijing for the first
time in 2010, which will help build awareness of New Zealand in China.
International Visitor Arrivals November 2009:
• Australia - 84,502, up 9.5%
• UK - 24,518, down 0.9%
• USA - 18,768, down 11.3%
• China - 11,063, down 3.5 %
• Japan - 8,027, down 1.9%
• Germany - 8,096, up 2.5%
• South Korea - 4,370, down 12.5%
• Canada - 4,922, down 14.9%
*The International Visitor Arrivals (
IVA) survey provides monthly statistics on Inbound travel by international visitors to
New Zealand , including visitors by country, purpose, length of stay, age, sex, port of arrival and mode of transport (air/sea).
IVA statistics are obtained from the monthly External Migration survey undertaken by Statistics New Zealand, using international passenger arrival and departure cards collected by Customs at various international airports and seaports in
New Zealand .
The same survey also provides Outbound travel statistics of
New Zealand residents on short-term overseas trips for a period less than 12 months.
