Tourism expenditure passes $20 billion

Tourism expenditure in New Zealand reached $20.1 billion for the year ended March 2007, according to the Tourism Satellite Account: 2007 published today by Statistics New Zealand.

Total tourism expenditure, consisting of spending by international and domestic (household, business and
government) tourists, increased 4.7 percent ($896 million) from the previous March year.
Other key results from the Tourism Satellite Account: 2007 include:
• International tourism contributed $8.8 billion (or 18.3 percent) to total New Zealand exports.
• Domestic tourism expenditure was $11.3 billion.
• Tourism generated a direct contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) of $7.9 billion, or 5.1
percent of GDP.
• The indirect value added of industries supporting tourism generated an additional $6.2 billion to
tourism.
• The tourism industry directly employed 108,100 full-time equivalent employees (or 5.8 percent of
total employment in New Zealand), an increase of 1.9 percent from the previous year.
• Tourists generated $1.5 billion in goods and services tax (GST) revenue.
The Tourism Satellite Account: 2007 is available on the Statistics New Zealand website
(http://www.stats.govt.nz/) or via the Statistics New Zealand Information Centre.