Increased tourism numbers in Spring 2016 and Autumn 2017 grew the New Zealand economy by providing more revenue for transport and rental operators as well as the freight and logistics industry.
Statistics New Zealand data shows holiday arrivals in the spring and autumn rose 16.1% and 10.2% respectively.
By comparison growth in the peak summer is 8.3%.
Tourism New Zealand says the increases are a satisfactory reflection of its policy to strategically promote New Zealand as a destination of choice outside the peak summer season.
Tourism New Zealand’s chief executive Stephen England-Hall says the organisation changed its focus two years ago in response to the pattern of arrivals that boomed over summer before dropping away again.
“We invest our entire marketing budget in encouraging people to come to New Zealand in the shoulder seasons, to even the spread of visitation,” he says.
“Traditionally people want to travel here in the summer and to change that behaviour is challenging,” says England-Hall.
“But our industry needs a much evener distribution of visitors so they can keep staff employed and make the most of their investments in capital. And we can continue to welcome more visitors than we do currently provide they don’t all come at the same time,” he says.
The total number of international visitor arrivals to New Zealand rose 10% in the year ending May 2017 compared to the previous year.
Statistics New Zealand’s latest data shows more than 3.6 million international visitors have arrived here in the past year, with almost 1.9 million of them coming for a holiday.
The markets currently showing the most growth in holiday arrivals are Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Almost 50,000 more Australians holidayed in New Zealand in the year ending May 2017, a 9.2% increase on the previous year.
“It’s pleasing to see holiday arrivals from our largest and closest source market continue to grow,” says England-Hall.
“We’ve invested in a range of marketing campaigns in Australia over the past year, such as our short breaks and cycling campaigns, to encourage Australians to come and enjoy what New Zealand has to offer and it is paying off,” he says.
An increase in airline activity and capacity is also making it easier for tourists to travel further for less.
Holiday arrivals from the US grew by 32.6%, while visitors from the UK were also up by 9.5% on last year.
“We’ve witnessed the price of air travel plummet significantly over the past year, and this combined with the increase of long-haul flights arriving into New Zealand has resulted in these increases in holiday arrivals we are seeing from the US and UK,” says England-Hall.
Another market of note is China, this time for the softening of growth which stands at 1.1% for the year.
