Visitor spend remains constant

13 August 2013

Visitor spend remains constant

Spending by visitors to New Zealand has remained fairly constant over the last year at $5.5 billion, according to the International Visitor Survey released today by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

Peter Ellis, the Ministry’s Sector Performance Manager, says that while total spend has remained about the same, there are a couple of notable changes.

“Firstly, there has been a large decrease in the total spend by visitors from the United Kingdom and also their spend per person.”

“In addition to a decrease of 27 per cent in total spend by UK visitors over the year ended 30 June 2013, average spend has decreased 16 per cent. Not only are fewer people from the United Kingdom visiting New Zealand - the visitors that do come here are spending less” says Mr Ellis.

“On the other hand, we continue to see strong growth in the China market. Total spend by Chinese visitors increased by 24 per cent over the year ended 30 June 2013.”

Australia continues to be New Zealand’s largest tourism market, with Australian residents spending $1.6 billion while visiting New Zealand in this period.

The International Visitor Survey is based on interviews of 5,200 tourists per year departing from New Zealand airports, with data released quarterly. The Survey is currently undergoing redevelopment to increase the sample size, improve coverage, shorten the questionnaire and move most data collection online.

The next quarterly release, in November 2013, will be based on data collected under the new methodology and will include any necessary revisions of historical data to allow comparisons over time.

Read the full survey results and information about the survey here.

ENDS

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