New Zealand December visitor numbers reach new heights
Contact
New Zealand December visitor numbers reach new heights
New Zealand recorded 529,300 visitor arrivals in December 2018, the highest for any month, Stats NZ has announced.
-
Photo by Holger Link on UnsplashNew Zealand December visitor numbers reach new heights
December 2018’s figure was 15,900 higher than December 2017, which was the previous record holder.
Visitor arrivals in the December 2018 month averaged 17,100 a day. That’s equivalent to just over the population of Tauranga arriving every eight days in the month.
The United States led the increase in visitor arrivals for December 2018, up 4,900 compared with December 2017. Other changes were:
- Australia, up 2,300
- United Kingdom, up 2,100
- India, down 1,500.
Visitors stay for longer holidays in December
The median length of stay (half stayed longer than this time, half stayed less) for visitors arriving in December 2018 was 13 days. This compared with nine days for the 2018 year.
“Visitors tend to stay longer than usual in December months,” population insights senior manager Brooke Theyers said. “This is because more visitors visit family and friends, and fewer visitors arrive for business and conferences.”
Annual growth still high but slowing
In the year ended December 2018 there were 3.86 million visitor arrivals. This was up 129,500 from last year.
“Visitor numbers increased 3.5 percent in the year ended December 2018,” Ms Theyers said. “This brought visitor arrivals to this month’s record, but with the rate of increase not quite as large as in previous years.”
More resident travellers in December
There were 174,300 NZ-resident travellers who arrived back from overseas trips in December 2018, up 7,200 from December 2017. Most of the increase in resident arrivals was from Australia with 3,600. Other changes were:
- Indonesia, up 1,200
- Cook Islands, up 700
- United States, down 700.
Just over 3.02 million NZ-resident travellers returned from overseas trips in the December 2018 year. Most travellers arrived back from Australia, which accounted for 1.23 million resident arrivals. Other popular destinations for NZ-resident travellers were:
- United States, 215,000
- Fiji, 192,200
- China, 132, 500.
Click here to view the Stats NZ Website.
See also:
New Zealand records most popular international visitor numbers ever throughout Spring
Wellington City Council approves new Conference and Exhibition Centre
Hamilton to Auckland passenger rail service business case to begin
