Sharp fall in March visitor numbers

Wednesday 4th May 2011

Visitor numbers fell sharply in March, hit by earthquakes in this country and Japan, and by the timing of holidays.

Figures from Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) today show an 11% fall in visitor arrivals from overseas in March to 215,600.

That included a fall of 11,900 from Australia, 6800 fewer from Britain, and 3700 fewer from Japan.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive Kevin Bowler said the drop in arrivals from some key markets was in line with expectations following the February earthquake in Christchurch and the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

International experience showed that an immediate shortfall in visitor numbers was likely after such events, and the challenge for Tourism New Zealand and the wider industry had been to minimise the fall with effective communications, Bowler said.

The aim of the communication was to provide confidence to intending travellers to carry on with plans for this country, and for others to make new plans.

It was also encouraging that growth was continuing in visitor numbers from China and Singapore, and pleasing that arrival figures from the United States were positive.

The number of visitors from China was up 700, and from the US and Singapore was up 200.

While figures for April would also be "challenging", he was confident arrivals would return to more normal levels later in the year, Bowler said.

Reasons for his confidence included the coming ski season, new air routes between this country and China and South East Asia, and the Rugby World Cup.

SNZ said the fall in visitor numbers was partly due to the later timing of Easter and the Australian school holidays in 2011, after those holiday periods had boosted visitors in the last week of March 2010.

For the year to March visitor numbers were up 7500 to 2.51 million.

Overseas trips by New Zealand residents in March were boosted by the number of overseas trips by Christchurch residents, which was up 40% from a year earlier to 18,700.

Overall, New Zealand residents left on 143,100 short term overseas trips in March. That was only slightly up from a year earlier, but came despite later Easter and school holidays than in 2010.

NZPA

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