Small Decrease in Visitor Arrivals

21 June 2006

Small Decrease in Visitor Arrivals

There were 135,300 short-term overseas visitor arrivals to New Zealand in May 2006, down 400 (less than 1 percent) from May 2005, Statistics New Zealand said today. More visitors came from China, Australia and India, and fewer from Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom compared with the previous May.

Seasonally adjusted monthly visitor arrivals were down 1 percent in May 2006, following a rise of 2 percent in April 2006. In the year ended May 2006, there were 2.395 million visitor arrivals, up 14,200 (1 percent) on the May 2005 year.

New Zealand residents departed on 147,900 short-term overseas trips in May 2006, up 1,300 (1 percent) on May 2005. There were more trips to Fiji, Australia, Thailand and Canada, and fewer to the United States. In the May 2006 year, there were 1.872 million New Zealand resident short-term departures, up 4 percent on the 1.806 million in the previous May year.

Permanent and long-term (PLT) departures exceeded arrivals by 1,000 in May 2006, compared with an excess of 1,100 departures in May 2005. The seasonally adjusted series recorded a net PLT inflow of 900 in both April and May 2006.

In the May 2006 year, there was a net PLT migration gain of 10,200, up 16 percent on the net inflow of 8,800 people in the previous May year.

Geoff Bascand

Acting Government Statistician

ENDS

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