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.

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