Our take on the latest Tourism data (Tue 12 Nov 2019)
Tourist arrivals up 1.7%pa
Departures of NZ tourists up 4.6%pa
Chinese arrivals down 15%pa
The key numbers...
- Tourist arrivals grew 1.7%pa in September, having slowed from 2.0%pa in August.
- Growth in Australian tourists was the main bright spot in September, with annual growth of 6.4%pa, representing 7,900 more Australians who arrived in New Zealand in September 2019 compared to a year before.
- China and Japan, the two largest Asian markets for tourist arrivals coming into New Zealand, were both in decline, down 15% and 19%pa respectively.
- The number of New Zealand tourist departures over the last 12 months was 6% higher than the previous year.
Tourism movements in and out of the country
Year-end annual % change
...and our reaction
- Some clear trends for tourist arrivals from various countries has developed over the last year. Arrivals from most Asian countries have declined, with Taiwan being a notable exception.
- Over the last year, most of the growth in tourist arrivals to New Zealand has come from Australia and the United States.
- Although Australian tourist arrivals has been holding up tourism growth recently, what each Australian tourist contributes to the economy isn’t so big. The average Australian tourist will spend approximately half as much as a Chinese or US tourist during their stay.
- Despite recent growth in tourist arrivals being slow compared to last five years, the number of New Zealand tourist departures has grown steadily over this same time, indicating the comparative resilience of New Zealand as global growth slows.
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