International Visitors Spend: December 2004 Year
International visitors to NZ spent $6.3 billion in the year to December 2004, down 1.3 percent from the previous year. This decline follows record spending in 2003.
New Zealand's top ten markets accounted for 76 percent of the total visitor spend. Visitor spend for 2004 was generated from Australia ($1.4 billion), the UK ($887 million), Japan ($649m), the US ($611 million), China ($409 million) and Korea ($325 million).
In terms of growth performance, Australia increased by 22 percent, the UK fell by 4 percent, the US fell by 3 percent and Japan increased by 5 percent. Korea fell by 48 percent, as did China at 4 percent.
There have been a number of factors influencing performance over 2004, including:
- NZ's currency had a significantly higher average value in 2004 than in 2003. While the relationships between exchange rates and tourism expenditure are not always clear, NZ has been a substantially more expensive destination to visit in 2004 than it has been for a number of years. The UK and US markets, in particular, appear to have been influenced by this factor.
- The decline in the export education sector has had an impact with a decline of 16 percent in expenditure by travellers coming to NZ for the purpose of "education". This is shown up by the sharp drop in earnings from Korea and China in particular. By contrast "holiday" expenditure increased by 2 percent.
- There have been significant shifts within some of our markets in 2004. In particular, the competitive trans-Tasman market stimulated growth of Australian travellers who have shorter visits and therefore lower spending per trip than other longer stay markets. As such, the strong Australian visitor growth is not reflected in the overall spend performance.
Contact for Enquiries
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526, Wellington
Tel: +64 4 894 0100
Fax: +64 4 894 0720
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