Latest NZ visitor stats bode well for “bumper” summer season
Figures on the rise but still far cry from pre-COVID levels
With New Zealand’s overseas visitor numbers showing a significant uptick in September, towns and cities across the country are being advised to prepare for what senior tourism officials hope is going to be a busy summer season.
The sector’s optimism has been boosted by figures released by Stats NZ which show overseas visitor arrivals for September 2022 increased to 151,300, a 16.5 percent increase over the 129,800 tally recorded for August 2022.
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But the September 2022 figure is still a far cry from the 261,000 figure (a difference of 58 percent) recorded in September 2019 prior to the COVID outbreak.
Stats NZ Population Indicators Manager, Tehseen Islam said the September 2022 figures represented a reversal of the pattern during most of 2020 and 2021 when a large share of visitor arrivals were New Zealand citizens.
Of the 151,300 overseas visitor arrivals in September 2022, 70 percent were from Australia (compared with 51 percent in September 2019); 5 percent were from the United States (6 percent in September 2019); 4 percent were from United Kingdom (3 percent in September 2019),and 2 percent were from Singapore (2 percent in September 2019.
Commenting on the Stats NZ figures, Minister for Tourism, Stuart Nash said this was very positive news for the strength of the New Zealand economy.
“The tourism sector is such an important contributor. Before COVID-19, tourism was New Zealand’s largest export industry and delivered $40.9 billion to the country,” he said.
“Tourism also made a significant positive impact on regional economies supporting employment by directly employing 8.4 percent (229,566 people) of the New Zealand workforce.
“I’ve said many times that this summer is going to be a bumper one for our tourism sector with international arrivals spending big across the whole of New Zealand.
“Tourism electronic card transactions (TECT) in September 2022 has increased overall compared to pre-COVID September 2019 levels with the monthly domestic TECT spend up 24 percent compared with September 2019 and International TECT spend up 2% on the same period.
“We are also seeing the economic benefits of our Australian neighbours enjoying all that New Zealand has to offer. Monthly TECT spend from Australian cardholders was at 96 percent of pre-COVID September 2019 levels.
Mr Nash said the industry must not forget the value of the country’s domestic market.
“Our local tourists are still travelling domestically and supporting our tourism sector,” he said.
“Nationwide monthly domestic TECT spend in ‘cultural, recreation, and gambling services’ showed the greatest increase of all the tourism-characteristic products. It’s already up 30 percent compared to 2019.
“We supported the sector through the tough times with the $400m Tourism Recovery Package, the $200m Tourism Communities Plan, and the $54m Innovation Programme for Tourism Recovery.
“Now it’s time to welcome our international visitors to our world class tourist destinations and look forward to a bright future for our tourism sector.”
Mike Parker-Brown is a UK-trained and qualified journalist and an award-winning travel communicator with more than 30 years experience.
Since 2002, Mike has worked as a freelance writer and PR consultant providing his services to major organisations in Australia and internationally in the tourism, aviation, hospitality, recruitment and export marketing sectors.
