Visitor Arrivals Up 11 Per Cent

External Migration: July 2001

There were 144,400 overseas visitor arrivals in New Zealand in July 2001, an increase of 13,800 or 11 per cent on July 2000, according to Statistics New Zealand. Australia (up 6,200) and Asia (up 4,200) together accounted for three-quarters of this increase.

For the year ended July 2001, there were 1.898 million visitors, up 186,000 or 11 per cent on the previous year. Four countries contributed two-thirds of this increase: Australia (up 65,300 or 12 per cent), the United Kingdom (up 27,500 or 15 per cent), China (up 15,200 or 51 per cent) and Korea (up 15,000 or 24 per cent).

In the July 2001 year, there were 617,500 visitors from Australia. One-quarter were New Zealand-born (148,600) and over half were born in Australia (328,500). Almost three-quarters of those born in New Zealand came to visit friends and relatives, compared with 23 per cent of those born in other countries. New Zealand-born Australian visitors stayed 15 days on average, three days longer than other visitors from Australia.

Between June and July 2001, seasonally adjusted visitor arrivals remained unchanged. This compares with a 3 per cent increase between May and June 2001.

Short-term departures by New Zealand residents in July 2001 totalled 120,800, down 3,700 or 3 per cent on July 2000. The main destinations which contributed to this fall were Australia (down 7,500 or 11 per cent), the United Kingdom (down 1,200 or 14 per cent) and Indonesia (down 1,000 or 31 per cent). Conversely, departures to Fiji were up 5,900 or 299 per cent on July 2000.

In July 2001, permanent and long-term (PLT) arrivals exceeded departures by 1,700 (net inflow), compared with a net outflow of 800 in July 2000. The seasonally adjusted series recorded a net inflow of 1,150 migrants.

For the year ended July 2001, there was a net outflow of 6,800 PLT migrants, one-third less than the net outflow of 10,100 in the previous year. There was a net outflow to Australia (30,000), but net inflows from China (7,900), India (3,000), South Africa (2,400), Fiji (2,000) and Japan (1,900).

Brian Pink
Government Statistician
END

© Scoop Media