Record arrivals for NZ despite China decline

Record arrivals for NZ despite China decline
By admin


Tourism New Zealand has reported record arrivals in November, as its largest source market Australia climbed 7.5% compared to 12 months ago.

An extra 7,000 Aussies travelled across the Tasman with the tourism agency also reporting solid growth from the US (+28.4%), Canada (+27.6%) and Germany (+ 23.7%).

 Numbers were also inflated by North Americans flying in to join cruises.

"Very positively, the growth is driven by a continued recovery in our long staying traditional markets," Tourism New Zealand chief executive Kevin Bowler said. "But even taking cruise passengers out, total arrivals from the USA and Canada were well up on last year."

Bowler was hopeful that the North American market would continue to expand and credited the second Hobbit film along with the 100% Middle-earth, 100% Pure New Zealand campaign for improving awareness.

Europe has shown signs of recovery while UK arrivals are ahead of projections, he added.

"Germany is proving to be an incredibly resilient performer," Bowler said.

But arrivals from China continued to fall. While year to date numbers are up 18.7%, November arrivals slipped almost 16% folllowing a decline in October.

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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