Population insights senior manager Brooke Theyers has said that, "Annual total traveller movements are equivalent to the sum of all arrivals and departures for New Zealand-resident travellers, overseas visitors, and migrants."

“It took 18 months for annual total traveller movements to increase from 13 million to 14 million. The fastest-ever million gain occurred between 2003 and 2004, when it took only nine months for annual total traveller movements to increase from 7 million to 8 million,” Mrs Theyers said.

Australia and China lead visitor arrivals

Visitor arrivals were 399,300 in the month of January 2019. This was up 21,100 (5.3 percent) from January 2018.

Australia led the increase in visitor arrivals – up 7,800 compared with the same month last year. Other major changes were:

• China, up 6,600
• United States up 2,000
• Thailand down 1,400.

China led the Asia region, compensating for falls in arrivals from some Asian countries. Total visitor arrivals for Asia were up 5,900 for the month of January 2019.

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Chinese New Year, a peak holiday season for Chinese travel, started in early February in 2019. In 2018, it was mid-February and was late January in 2017.

Total visitor arrivals for the year ended January 2019 were 3.88 million, up 151,500 from the year ended January 2018.

See also: Queenstown Waterfall Park Hotel approved by council

Indonesia a hotspot for Kiwi travellers

For the January 2019 month, there were 320,900 New Zealand-resident traveller arrivals, up 4,100 (1 percent) from the same month last year. Arrivals from Indonesia had the largest increase, up 2,300. Other changes were:

• China, up 1,400
• United States up 1,300
• Japan, up 1,200.

Indonesia also had the largest rise in resident arrivals for the January 2019 year, an increase of 19,900 (40 percent) compared with the year ended January 2018.

Total resident arrivals for the year ended January 2019 were 3.02 million, up 145,800 compared with the year ended January 2018.

Click here to view the Stats NZ website.

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