Sharp rise in Chinese arrivals helped New Zealand overcome deficit in arrivals from United States (Photo: Tourism New Zealand)
International tourists coming to New Zealand between the period of October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024 spent a total of USD 11.7 billion, a rise of USD 2.8 billion over the preceding 12 month period, reflecting a sharp growth of 30 pc.
In a press statement, Tourism New Zealand says that the country has also seen a robust growth year-on-year (y-o-y) in international visitor numbers. For the year to September 2024, total international visitor arrivals were up 17 pc y-o-y to 3.2 million, with holiday arrivals up 29 pc compared to last year.
It adds that its focus on promoting tourism during the off-peak period is also working well as off-peak arrivals in the July-September period were up 2.7 pc on last year. This was essentially led by a surge of 29 pc in number of Chinese visitors and a rise of 9 pc in visitors from Australia that helped offset a 32 pc decline from the United States following last year’s strong visitation during the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The performance of the country in the quarter ending September 2024 was strong as it received a total of 535,400 international visitors, of which with 286,500 arrivals, Australians commanded a 53.6 pc marketshare, followed by China at 47,100 visitors, taking a share of 8.8 pc of overall arrivals in the quarter. With 34,700 visitors and 6.5 pc share, the US was the third largest source market for New Zealand.
While Australians stayed for an average of 7 days in New Zealand, other arrivals stayed longer, for 11 days. The average spend by an Australian visitor in the country was NZD 2,100 (USD 1,231), for other visitors it was NZD 3,100.
Tourism New Zealand says that an overwhelming 99.1 pc of all visitors found the country’s natural scenery to be good or very good, of this 87.9 pc found it to be very good. It adds that 90.8 pc of visitors from countries other than Australia enjoyed their experience of the Maori culture, while for Australians, it was even higher at 92.2 pc.
In terms of accommodation, while 35 pc of all visitors stayed in hotels, as many as 34 pc stayed with family or friends, indicating a strong segment of Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) among the international visitors to New Zealand.