Short-term travel in July breaks records

Short-term travel in July breaks records – Media release

21 August 2013

Resident departures and visitor arrivals both hit record highs in July 2013, Statistics New Zealand said today. The number of overseas trips taken by New Zealanders (237,000) was the highest for any month, and the number of visits to New Zealand (183,700) was the highest for a July month.

"More people taking short trips to and from Australia contributed to the record number of resident departures and visitor arrivals," population statistics manager Andrea Blackburn said. "There were 9,300 more trips taken to Australia, and 5,200 more visitors from across the Tasman, compared with the previous July."

Total visitor arrivals were up 6 percent from July 2012 (173,500). In addition to Australia, there were also more visitors from China (up 3,100), the United Kingdom (up 1,500), and the United States (up 1,100). In the year ended July 2013, there were 2.647 million visitors from all countries, up 1 percent from the previous year.

New Zealand residents took 15 percent more overseas trips in July 2013 than in July 2012. This big increase was mainly due to winter school holidays starting later this year. The July 2013 figure was only up 2 percent from the July 2011 figure, when school holidays began at a similar time.

In the July 2013 year, New Zealand residents departed on 2.172 million overseas trips, up 2 percent from the previous year. More people took trips to the United States (up 15,200), but fewer went to Australia down 8,800).

Net gain of 2,000 migrants

New Zealand had a seasonally adjusted net gain (more arrivals than departures) of 2,000 migrants in July 2013. This was similar to the net inflow the previous month (2,200), which was the highest since July 2009 (also 2,200).

The seasonally adjusted net loss of 1,200 migrants to Australia in July 2013 was the smallest net loss since November 2009 (1,100). The latest net loss to Australia was well down from a high of 3,500 recorded in July 2012, mainly due to fewer New Zealand citizens moving to Australia.

In the July 2013 year, New Zealand had a net gain of 10,600 migrants, the highest since the November 2010 year (11,500). The net loss of 29,200 migrants to Australia was the lowest since the May 2011 year (28,600).

ENDS

IntTravelAndMigrationJul13.pdf
itmjul13tables.xls

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