Record number of visitors from China

Visitor arrivals numbered 168,100 in August 2010, up 4 percent from August 2009 to reach the highest number of visitors ever recorded for an August month, Statistics New Zealand said today. The increase was primarily due to a large increase in visitors from China.

"Visitors from China more than doubled from 4,600 in August 2009 to 9,700 in August 2010, and also exceeded the previous August high of 9,000 visitors from China in 2007," acting Population Statistics manager Susan Hollows said.

"Visitor arrivals from China during the last two years were heavily affected by a number of events, including the global economic downturn, Sichuan earthquake, Beijing Olympics, and the H1N1 pandemic."

Visitors from Japan were also up in August 2010 after being affected by the H1N1 pandemic in 2009, but visitors from the United Kingdom continued to decrease. The 8,800 visitors from the United Kingdom in

August 2010 were the lowest for an August month since 1999 (7,900).

In August 2010, New Zealand residents departed on 180,200 overseas trips, 2 percent more than in August 2009. There were more trips to the United States, the United Kingdom, the Cook Islands, and China.