Overseas visitors hit 3 million milestone

Overseas visitors hit 3 million milestone

21 August 2015

Visitor arrivals to New Zealand surpassed 3 million for the first time in the July 2015 year, Statistics New Zealand said today. The record-breaking 3,002,982 visitors this year was 7 percent higher than the July 2014 year.

"The expanding market of Chinese holiday visitors, and steady growth of visitors from Australia, helped push the annual number of visitors to 3 million," population statistics senior manager Vina Cullum said. "New Zealand first reached 2 million visitors in 2002."

Visitor arrivals in July 2015 numbered 208,000, up 6 percent from July 2014, and the highest for a July month. The biggest increases were from Australia, the United States, and China.

Record number of overseas trips by New Zealand residents

New Zealand-resident travellers departed on a record 251,200 overseas trips in July 2015, up 8 percent from July 2014. The annual total was 2.35 million, up 5 percent, and also a record. Residents took more trips to Australia, the United States, Fiji, and Indonesia compared with the July 2014 year.

Highest-ever net gain of migrants in July

New Zealand had a seasonally adjusted net gain (more arrivals than departures) of 5,700 migrants in July 2015, surpassing the previous record of 5,400 in January 2015. More student arrivals, mainly from India, contributed to the spike in net migration in July 2015. Net migration has been fluctuating around 5,000 since October 2014.

The seasonally adjusted net gain of 200 migrants from Australia in July 2015 was the highest in over 20 years (since 300 in March 1991).

Annual permanent and long-term migration showed a record net gain of 59,600 migrants in the July 2015 year. This resulted from 117,100 migrant arrivals, and 57,500 migrant departures.

Of the migrant arrivals in the July 2015 year:

• 24,300 were from Australia, with two-thirds being New Zealand citizens
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• 13,800 were from India, with three-quarters having student visas
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• 13,500 were from the United Kingdom, with most having work visas or New Zealand citizenship
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• 10,400 were from China, with about half having student visas.
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See the International Travel and Migration: July 2015 commentary and tables for more information.

For more information about these statistics:

• Visit International Travel and Migration: July 2015

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