Tourism expenditure tops $40 billion
Increased spending by international and domestic
tourists, saw total tourism spending reach $40.9 billion in
the year ended March 2019, Stats NZ said today.
Total tourism expenditure was up 4.0 percent ($1.6 billion), following an 8.1 percent increase in the previous year, according to the Tourism satellite account: 2019 released today.
International tourist spending increased to $17.2 billion, up 5.2 percent ($843 million) from the year ended March 2018. The number of short-term arrivals to New Zealand increased 1.3 percent over the same period.
Spending by domestic tourists increased to $23.7 billion in the latest year, up 3.3 percent ($746 million).
Other key provisional
estimates for the year ended March
2019:
• International tourism expenditure contributed
20.4 percent to New Zealand’s total exports of goods and
services.
• Tourists generated $3.8 billion in goods
and services tax (GST) revenue, with $1.8 billion coming
from international tourists.
• Tourism generated a
direct contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) of $16.2
billion, or 5.8 percent of GDP.
• The indirect value
added of industries supporting tourism generated an
additional $11.2 billion, or 4.0 percent of GDP.
• 229,566 people were directly employed in tourism
(8.4 percent of the total number of people employed in New
Zealand), an increase of 3.9 percent from the previous
year.