Chinese New Year lifts January visitor arrivals

Chinese New Year lifts January visitor arrivals –
Media release

27 February 2014

Chinese New Year helped boost the number of visitors coming to New Zealand in January 2014, Statistics New Zealand said today. The number of visitors this month (292,400) was up 12 percent from last year, and the highest ever for a January month.

"New Zealand saw more visitors arrive from China and Hong Kong this month, compared with January 2013, due to the earlier timing of Chinese New Year," population statistics manager Andrea Blackburn said. "Chinese New Year is a popular time for travel to New Zealand, and it fell at the end of January, whereas last year it fell mid-February."

There were also more visitors from Australia, the United Kingdom, and Germany in January 2014, compared with the previous year. In the January 2014 year, visitor arrivals reached 2.75 million, up 7 percent from the January 2013 year.

New Zealand residents departed on 127,800 overseas trips in January 2014, up 6 percent from January 2013. Over the year, New Zealand residents took 2.20 million trips, up 2 percent from the previous year. The most common destinations were Australia (1.02 million), the United States (144,200), Fiji (113,300), and the United Kingdom (96,000).

Highest net gain of migrants in over 10 years

New Zealand had a seasonally adjusted net gain (more arrivals than departures) of 3,100 migrants in January 2014. This was the highest gain in over 10 years (since 3,400 in May 2003). Net migration has been positive and mostly increasing since September 2012. The increase was mainly due to fewer New Zealand citizens leaving for Australia, as well as more non-New Zealand citizens arriving.

In the January 2014 year, migrant arrivals numbered 95,200, and migrant departures numbered 69,500, resulting in a net gain of 25,700 migrants. This compares with net migration of zero in the January 2013 year.

In the latest year, New Zealand had a net loss of 17,100 migrants to Australia, well down from 37,900 a year earlier. Net gains were recorded from most other countries, led by the United Kingdom (6,000), China (5,700), and India (5,600).

International Travel and Migration: January 2014

IntTravelAndMigrationJan14HOTP.pdf

itmjan14tables.xls

ENDS

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