Tourism spend rises $469M

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Thursday 14th March 2002

Visitor spending in New Zealand has risen by 10% according to the latest international visitor survey.

Tourism Minister Mark Burton says the survey, which shows visitors spent an estimated $5.236 billion in 2001, is encouraging because it shows an improving yield. The total is a $469 million increase on what visitors spend in 2000.

"Actual visitor numbers last year were up by 6.9%, which means that visitors to New Zealand are, on average, spending more," Mr Burton says.

"One of the key aims of the New Zealand Tourism Strategy is to improve yields, so this result is very encouraging."

Mr Burton claims the spending figures would have been even more impressive if not for the impact of the September 11th USA terror attacks which affected fourth quarter performance.

"Of great interest for the industry is the performance of our key markets. Australian visitors spent $946 million in New Zealand in 2001, a very significant increase of 10.3%.

"The United Kingdom increased by 18.8% to $708 million to become our third most valuable market. Other markets moved less, such as United States, but it retained its position as our second most valuable market at $768 million."

The survey shows that the most adversely affected market was Japan, which declined by 11.9% to $645 million.

Mr Burton says the data reinforces the underlying growth trend of international tourism and the increasing contribution of tourism to New Zealand's economy.

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