Visitor Arrivals Fall 3 Per Cent

External Migration: October 2001

Visitor Arrivals Fall 3 Per Cent

There were 142,100 short-term overseas visitor arrivals in New Zealand in October 2001, down 4,500 or 3 per cent on October 2000, according to Statistics New Zealand. This reflects the effects of the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States and the collapse of Ansett Australia. There were fewer visitors from the United States (down 3,400 or 20 per cent), Japan (down 2,000 or 20 per cent) and Thailand (down 1,200 or 31 per cent), but increases from China (up 1,700 or 62 per cent) and Korea (up 1,500 or 34 per cent).

Despite the decrease in visitor numbers, the total number of days that visitors who arrived in New Zealand in October 2001 intended to stay was up 7 per cent on October 2000, from 3.06 million to 3.29 million days. This was due to an increase in the average length of stay from 21 days to 23 days.

In the year ended October 2001, there were 1.931 million visitor arrivals, up 192,000 or 11 per cent on the previous October year. Much of the increase was from Australia (up 69,900), the United Kingdom (up 25,300), Korea (up 21,200) and China (up 20,200).

Analysis by birthplace shows that over one-quarter (27 per cent) of all overseas visitor arrivals in the October 2001 year were born in Asia and a further 24 per cent were born in Europe. A further one-fifth (19 per cent) were born in Australia, a much lower proportion than the share of visitors from Australia (34 per cent). This was because just under one-half (46 per cent) of the 633,600 visitors from Australia were born in other countries, such as New Zealand (150,500 or 24 per cent) and countries in Europe (73,900 or 12 per cent). Overall, New Zealand-born visitors accounted for 226,600 or 12 per cent of all visitor arrivals.

From September to October 2001, seasonally adjusted visitor arrivals decreased by 8 per cent. This follows a 9 per cent drop from August to September 2001.

New Zealand residents departed on 101,000 short-term overseas trips in October 2001, down 9,100 or 8 per cent on October 2000. There were significant decreases in trips to Australia (down 3,300 or 5 per cent), the United States (down 2,000 or 33 per cent) and the United Kingdom (down 900 or 24 per cent). In the year ended October 2001, New Zealand resident short-term departures numbered 1.304 million, up 65,000 or 5 per cent on the year ended October 2000.

In the month of October 2001, permanent and long-term (PLT) arrivals exceeded departures by 3,800, compared with a net gain of 400 in October 2000. The increase was the result of 2,000 more arrivals and 1,400 fewer departures. The seasonally adjusted series recorded a net PLT inflow of 2,900 in October 2001.

In the year ended October 2001, there was a net inflow of 1,700 PLT migrants, compared with a net outflow of 9,300 migrants in the previous October year. This was the first net inflow in an October year since 1997. There was a net outflow to Australia (27,100), but net inflows from China (9,500), India (3,600), South Africa (2,700), Fiji (2,100) and Japan (1,900) in the year ended October 2001.

Brian Pink Government Statistician END

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