Survey shows dip in domestic travel

Media Statement

Tuesday 21 December 2010 – For immediate release

Survey shows dip in domestic travel

The Ministry of Economic Development’s latest tourism survey shows New Zealanders did less domestic travel in 2010.

The Domestic Travel Survey, which tracks the domestic spending and travel patterns of New Zealanders, showed a decline in domestic travel in the year to September 2010.

Domestic travellers spent $8.5 billion dollars, a decrease of 6.7 percent on the previous year.

On the other hand there was a 4.4 percent increase of overseas travel by New Zealand residents in the same period.

In total, domestic tourists took 16 million overnight trips. This is a change of -4.8 percent compared to the previous year. Domestic tourists spent 47.7 million nights away from home (on average three nights per trip), a decrease of 1.7 percent on the previous September year.

Domestic tourists also took 27.5 million day trips, a decrease of 14 percent on the previous year.

Overall, domestic tourists spent $8.49 billion for the year ended September 2010. $5.62 billion was spent on overnight trips, a decrease of 4.5 percent on the previous year. For day trips, the expenditure was $2.86 billion, down by 10.7 percent on the same period in 2009.

The Domestic Travel Survey is an annual telephone survey of 15,000 New Zealand residents and is undertaken throughout the year. Data and reports from the survey are available on the Ministry of Tourism’s research website – www.tourismresearch.govt.nz/dts.

ENDS

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