International Visitor Survey results released

Increased spending by all international visitors in the first quarter of 2011 helped alleviate a 6.1 per cent fall for the full year to March, according to the Ministry of Economic Development's International Visitor Survey, released this week.

The survey found that international visitors spent $5.598 billion in the year to March 2011, compared to $5.964 billion in the year to March 2010. However, compared to the year ended December 2010, the international visitor market value grew +1.5 per cent ($29.5 million).

Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive Kevin Bowler said the March full year results were unsurprising given recent trends, but the 1.5 percent value improvement on the year to December 2010 was welcomed.

"Growing visitor value remains the core goal of Tourism New Zealand. We face some significant challenges - not least the global economic situation, the fallout from the Christchurch earthquake, and the strong New Zealand dollar relative to the currencies of many of our international visitors.

Despite these hurdles, I'm confident we will improve visitor value through effective targeting of higher spending visitors and a better understanding of what they want from a visit to New Zealand."

According to the survey, in the year to March 2011, spending per visitor fell for visitors from most major markets, however, visitors from Korea (up +44.4 per cent) and China (up +8.9 per cent) bucked the trend, showing increases in spending, per person, over the past 12 months.

The Ministry of Economic Development's International Visitor Survey draws on a sample of 5,200 departing international visitors per year and is reported quarterly.

Click here to read the International Visitor Survey report