International tourists and Kiwis boost tourism spend

7 December 2018

Continued growth in overseas visitor numbers, and a buoyant domestic tourism market, drove tourism spending to $39.1 billion in the year ended March 2018, Stats NZ said today.

Total tourism expenditure was up 7.7 percent ($2.8 billion), following a 2.5 percent increase in the previous year, according to the Tourism satellite account: 2018 released today.

International tourist spending increased to $16.2 billion, up 9.6 percent ($1.4 billion). The number of short-term arrivals to New Zealand increased 7.8 percent over the same period. “Continued strength in visitor numbers across key international markets, on the back of additional airline and cruise capacity, lifted spending by international tourists,” national accounts senior manager Susan Hollows said.

Spending by domestic tourists surged to $23.0 billion in the latest year, up 6.5 percent ($1.4 billion). “The boost in domestic tourist spending was underpinned by strong increases across the accommodation, hospitality, passenger transport, and retail sectors,” Mrs Hollows said.

Other key provisional estimates for the year ended March 2018:
• International tourism expenditure contributed 20.6 percent to New Zealand’s total exports of goods and services.
• Tourists generated $3.7 billion in goods and services tax (GST) revenue, with $1.7 billion coming from international tourists.
• Tourism generated a direct contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) of $15.9 billion, or 6.1 percent of GDP.
• The indirect value added of industries supporting tourism generated an additional $11.1 billion, or 4.3 percent of GDP.
• 216,012 people were directly employed in tourism (8.0 percent of the total number of people employed in New Zealand), an increase of 2.6 percent from the previous year.

For more information about these statistics:

• Visit Tourism satellite account: 2018
• Open the attached files

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