Wednesday, August 22, 2018
International visitors and their spending in New Zealand are on the rise, as per the recent figures which showed $11.1bn in the last year.
This marked a growth of 9% from the last year’s figure of $879mn. In terms of visitor numbers, arrivals increased 4% annually to reach 3.78mn, according to the figures released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. Besides, average spending per visitor grew 4% to reach $3,290.
Portion of the growth has been due to the drop in value of the New Zealand dollar along with an increase in tourism from China, with the number of Chinese visitors to New Zealand growing by 13% to 449,000 in a year.
To quote Mark Gordon, the ministry’s manager of sector trends, “The number of visitors from China has increased by 13%, while the average spending per visitor was down slightly. However, spending from the US market was boosted both by increasing visitor numbers and an increase in the average spending per visitor, up 7%.”
In general, tourism from China is on the rise. Thanks to a growing number of middle class with increased spending power. Also, a strong yuan contributed to some of the highest ever passenger numbers for Chinese airlines, with much of the travel taking place within Asia Pacific according to reports.
Gordon added: “Of New Zealand’s major tourism markets, Japan is the only one that showed a fall in spending, down 12%… Overall Japanese visitors are spending less when they are here with an average spend per visitor falling 11%.”
