NZ tourist numbers drop

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Wednesday 21st November 2001

There's been a big drop in the number of tourists coming to New Zealand from the US and Japan although the slump has been partly offset by increased numbers from China and Korea.

Statistics New Zealand says the country had 142,100 short-term overseas visitor arrivals in October, down 4,500 or 3% on the same month last year.

"This reflects the effects of the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States and the collapse of Ansett Australia."

The biggest falls have been in visitors from the US and Japan, which both dropped by 20% compared with October last year. There were also considerably fewer tourist from Thailand, down 31% or 1,200 compared with last year.

However on the upside the number of tourists from China rose by 1,700 or 62% and visitors from Korea rose by 1,500 or 34%.

"Despite the decrease in visitor numbers, the total number of days that visitors who arrived in New Zealand in October intended to stay was up 7% on October 2000, from 3.06 million to 3.29 million days. This was due to an increase in the average length of stay from 21 days to 23 days," Statistics New Zealand says.

In the year ended October there were 1.931 million visitor arrivals, up 192,000 or 11% on the previous October year. Much of the increase was from Australia, the United Kingdom, Korea and China.

Auckland International Airport (NZSE: AIA) reported Wednesday that up until the middle of October passenger numbers had been positive but since then they have fallen below last year's levels.

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