Record month for visitor arrivals

Visitor arrivals numbered 341,300 in December 2009, the highest total ever recorded for a month, Statistics New Zealand said today. The figure is up 19,100 (6 percent) from the previous high of 322,200 in December 2008. Visitor arrivals have increased in seven of the last nine months, compared with the same months of the previous year. 

The main contributor to the December increase was 14,000 more visitors from Australia, continuing large increases seen since April 2009. There were also more visitors from the United States (up 2,800) and Singapore (up 1,200), but fewer from China (down 2,300).

There were 2.458 million visitor arrivals in the December 2009 year, similar to the 2.459 million in 2008 and fewer than the 2.466 million in 2007. Visitors from Australia were up 106,500 (11 percent) for the year, but this was offset by large decreases in visitors from the United Kingdom, Korea, Japan, the United States, and China.

New Zealand residents departed on 184,500 short-term overseas trips in December 2009, down 2,800 (1 percent) from December 2008. For the December 2009 year, short-term departures of New Zealand residents numbered 1.918 million, down 48,800 (2 percent) from the previous year.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, permanent and long-term (PLT) arrivals exceeded departures by 1,700 in the December 2009 month, similar to levels experienced since February 2009.

New Zealand's annual net migration balance was a gain of 21,300 in the December 2009 year, up from 3,800 in 2008. The increase was driven by 18,500 fewer PLT departures, including 15,700 fewer to Australia. PLT arrivals decreased 1,100 over the same period. The 2009 net migration figure is the highest since the June 2004 year (22,000).

Geoff Bascand 4 February 2010

Government Statistician