International tourism expenditure rebounds

Spending by international tourists in New Zealand increased 1.6 percent ($149 million) in the year ended March 2010, according to the Tourism Satellite Account: 2010 published today by Statistics New Zealand.

This increase follows a 0.7 decrease in the year ended March 2009.

"The significant rise in visitor numbers from the Oceania region (predominantly Australia) has been the catalyst for a return to growth in international expenditure,” national accounts manager Rachael Milicich said.

Overall, total tourism expenditure, consisting of spending by domestic and international tourists, increased 2.1 percent ($466 million) to $22.4 billion in the year ended March 2010.

Other key results for the year ended March 2010 are:

• Domestic tourism expenditure was $12.9 billion, an increase of 2.5 percent from the previous year. This includes expenditure by New Zealanders abroad on New Zealand-produced goods and services.
• International tourism contributed $9.5 billion (or 18.2 percent) to New Zealand’s total exports of goods and services.
• Tourism generated a direct contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) of $6.5 billion, or 3.8 percent of GDP.
• The indirect value added of industries supporting tourism generated an additional $8.6 billion to tourism.
• The tourism industry directly employed 92,900 full-time equivalent employees (or 4.9 percent of total employment in New Zealand), a decrease of 1.6 percent from the previous year.
• Tourists generated $1.7 billion in goods and services tax (GST) revenue.

The Tourism Satellite Account: 2010 is available on the Statistics NZ website (www.stats.govt.nz) or through Statistics NZ's Information Centre.