New Zealand Tourism looks at the numbers
The recently released New Zealand International Visitor Survey shows some interesting statistics for the Land across the ditch.
In the year ended March 2005, international visitor expenditure was NZ$6.14 billion, down 2.7% from the previous year. Expenditure by the Holiday market rose by 9% to NZ$3.2 billion.
Visitor expenditure from Australia was NZ$1.4 billion in the year ended March 2005 with an average spend of NZ$1,772 per visitor. The average spend per day of Australian visitors was $144 in the year to March, behind only the USA ($174 per day) and Japan ($169 per day) of New Zealands major visiting markets.
Auckland achieved a 7.8% increase in Australian visitors in the year ended March 2005 with 438,648.
Wellington achieved a 15.3% increase with 190,551.
Christchurch had 253,182 with a whopping 26.6% increase.
Australian visitors’ average stay in Wellington was seven nights – longer than the average Australian length of stay anywhere else in New Zealand.
“We have achieved an increase of 25,246 people in a 12-month period: that’s equivalent to about 180 additional flights per year, or 3.5 per week, with a 140-seat aircraft,” said Chris Lamers, General Manager Marketing of Positively Wellington Tourism.
“There has also been a huge increase in Australian accommodation room nights, exceeding 1.5 million in the year to the end of March 2005 – a 64.3% increase over the previous year,” said Mr Lamers.
Meanwhile yesterday in Queenstown, which last year attracted 152,406 Aussies , up 11.4%, Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive George Hickton spoke of the increasing competition for the travellers’ dollar in the holiday town, with a range of new accoommodation venues available.
“There’ll be more competition but the tourists will love it – more tourists will be able to come in the peak season, but obviously that’ll put a lot of pressure on accommodation providers,” Mr Hickton predicted.
Tourism forecasts for summer were “not spectacular” but slightly better than last year, predicting visitor growth of between 2 and 3 percent. He noted that New Zealand had to spend more on Tourism marketing if it wanted to compete with Australia and other emerging markets.
“We’re easily forgettable,” he said.
Graham Muldoon
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