Praneeta Mahajan
Hamilton, March 6, 2024
The latest International Visitor Survey (IVS) data shows that international tourism is steadily returning to pre-pandemic levels.
In 2023, the visitor numbers reached 76% of pre-pandemic levels with 2.96 million people spending $9.9 billion in New Zealand.
This reaffirms Tourism as the country’s second biggest export earner after dairy products (milk powder, butter, and cheese).
Positive movement
Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive Rene de Monchy said that tourism’s contribution to the economy is critical.
“As we recover from the pandemic, tourism has become our second-largest export for the year. As well as contributing to the national economy, the sector supports our regions and communities, employing 317,514 people,” he said.
Australia, the USA and China were the top visitor markets by arrivals for the quarter of October and December 2023, which includes two of New Zealand’s off-peak spring months.
72.3% of the holiday visitors surveyed indicated that they were likely to recommend New Zealand as a visitor destination to others, with 94.9% of holiday visitors saying that their holiday met or exceeded their expectations.
Visitor numbers have returned to 76% of pre-pandemic levels, a welcome news for many Kiwi businesses. Visitor spending, however, remains at 71% of pre-pandemic levels, after adjusting for inflation.
This is due to a range of factors, including a higher number of visitors staying with friends and family, and a large number of Australian visitors, who tend to spend less.
Visitor spending from October to December 2023 was 43% higher than the same period in 2022, adjusting for inflation.
The figures show a steady increase in international tourism spend.
Resilience of the tourism sector
Tourism Minister Matt Doocey said that new data (released on March 5, 2024), shows the continued importance of tourism to the New Zealand economy.
“The Tourism Satellite Account demonstrates how strongly tourism rebounded post-pandemic with total tourism expenditure of $37.7 billion for the year ending March 2023, an increase of $10.7 billion from the previous year.”
The data shows after the borders fully reopened New Zealand began to see a normalising of tourism flows with a greater mix of international visitors returning in droves along with strong spending increases in hospitality services and visitor experiences.
“The results show how important international connectivity is to New Zealand. This data demonstrated the importance of tourism to main centres and regions, our businesses and our economy as a whole,” he said.
Mr Doocey said that results show the resilience of tourism which is owed to the determination and grit of tourism businesses across New Zealand who got through the pandemic and geared up ready to meet visitors with open arms.
“Most regions rely on tourism and hospitality, which creates jobs and opportunities for New Zealanders. My message to tourism and hospitality operators around the country is that our government will continue to support them to grow,” Mr Doocey said.
Other key figures from the Tourism Satellite Account show that domestic tourism expenditure increased by 7.2% to $26.9 billion, and the total number of people employed in the tourism industry increased by 49.2% to 318,000 people. The tourism sector directly contributed to GDP of $13.3 billion, or 3.7% of GDP. Visitors from the USA spent $1.4 billion in 2023 and visitors from Australia spent $3.4 billion.
Praneeta Mahajan is an Indian Newslink reporter based in Hamilton.
