China now fourth largest source of visitors

In the January 2008 year, China overtook Japan to become New Zealand's fourth largest source of visitorarrivals, Statistics New Zealand said today.

The 122,000 visitor arrivals from China represented an increaseof 15,500 (up 15 percent) from the January 2007 year.

In contrast, the 119,500 visitor arrivals from Japanrepresented a decrease of 14,000 (down 10 percent) from the previous year.

The top three sources ofvisitor arrivals in the January 2008 year were Australia (956,400), the United Kingdom (289,400) and theUnited States (219,400).

Total visitor arrivals in the January 2008 year were up 54,700 (2 percent) from the previous year to reach2.472 million.

For the month of January 2008, visitor arrivals increased 6,800 (3 percent) compared withJanuary 2007.

In the year ended January 2008, New Zealand residents departed on 1.982 million overseas trips, up117,200 (6 percent) from the January 2007 year.

There were more trips to Australia (up 42,000), China (up8,400), France (up 7,000) and the Cook Islands (up 6,300), but fewer trips to Fiji (down 8,200).

New Zealand resident trips numbered 111,200 in January 2008, up 2,200 (2 percent) from January2007. Increases in trips to New Caledonia (up 1,000) and Vanuatu (up 500) were largely due to more cruisepassengers.

There were also more trips to China (up 1,000) and Canada (up 600) but 5,100 fewer trips toAustralia compared with January 2007.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, permanent and long-term (PLT) arrivals were the same as departures inJanuary 2008. This was also the case in December 2007.

This series averaged a net inflow of 500 migrantsbetween January and November 2007.

The net PLT migration inflow was 4,800 in the January 2008 year, down from a net inflow of 14,100 in theJanuary 2007 year.

The net outflow to Australia was 28,600 in the January 2008 year, compared with21,600 in the previous year. Net PLT inflows were recorded from the United Kingdom (6,900), India (3,700),the Philippines (3,200) and Fiji (2,500)