Tourism recovery maintains momentum

Tourism arrivals totalled 340,306 in March 2024, up 28%pa from March 2023 and sitting at 90% of pre-pandemic levels. This compares to 87% of pre-pandemic levels in February 2024.  

Continued recovery in visitor arrivals across most key markets drove further recovery in March. In particular, Australian visitor arrivals jumped up, from 87% of pre-pandemic in February 2024 to 97% in March 2024. This recovery in our largest market accounted for 28% of the increase in March 2024 arrivals, compared to March 2023.

Arrivals from China eased back from 75% of pre-pandemic levels in February 2024, associated with Lunar New Year, to 42% in March 2024, more in line with the level of recovery seen in 2023.

Australian arrivals were stronger in March, at 97% of pre-pandemic levels – the best month for Australian tourist arrivals relative to pre-pandemic levels since the broader tourism reopening.

Although several key tourism markets remain below pre-pandemic levels, a few have improved and held at stronger levels. Fiji arrivals have been ahead of 2019 levels since March 2023 and are currently at 151% of pre-pandemic levels, as are India (at 141%) and the United States (106%). 

Tourism arrivals had a strong month in March 2024, continuing to trend up, though at a slower rate than February which was buoyed by high Chinese arrivals associated with the Lunar New Year.

There was widespread support for arrival numbers across the board, noticeably Australia had over 21,000 more arrivals than March 2023, and promising momentum across Fiji, India, the United States, Singapore, and Hong Kong

With New Zealand’s borders having been fully open for nearly two years, and reaching 90% of pre-pandemic arrivals in March, this milestone shows promising signs for the New Zealand tourism sector. However, progress from 90% to 100% is likely to take longer than it took to go from 0% to 90%, as the global economy is now more fragile, limiting demand for long-haul travel.