Holiday arrivals drive continued growth

Friday, 22 November 2013

Holiday arrivals drive

continued growth

The latest arrival figures for the

month of October show that an increase in the number of

holiday makers continues to drive the overall growth in

arrivals to New Zealand.

Tourism New Zealand’s GM

Corporate Affairs Chris Roberts says the strong holiday

growth is good news for the tourism industry – with

holiday arrivals up 6.4 per cent for October, and 7.9 per

cent for the year.

“This growth is an additional

91,808 holiday visitors to New Zealand over the past

year.”

Total arrivals were up 5.8 per cent for the

month and 4.6 per cent for the year ending October 2013.

Total Chinese arrivals were up 22.5 per cent

year-on-year. However, as forecast by Tourism New Zealand

arrivals from China were down in October, by 11.6 per

cent.

This follows the implementation of the new China

travel law which came into effect on 1 October, effectively

requiring travel sellers in China to offer better quality,

and thus more expensive, group tour packages both

domestically and internationally.

“As expected we

saw a dramatic change in the Chinese visitor mix during the

month,” Chris says.

“A big drop in short stay

group visa applications, down 45 per cent for the month of

October, and a 43 per cent increase in longer stay and

individual visitor visa approvals, indicates a shift to a

better quality visitor and visitor experience – supporting

our strategy to increase the value of the Chinese market to

New Zealand.”

Holiday arrivals across Asia reported

growth during the month, with Singapore up 31.6 per cent and

Korea up 2.7 per cent.

Tourism New Zealand’s

priority markets also reported strong holiday arrival

increases; New Zealand’s biggest market Australia was up

9.0 per cent, United States up 13.3 per cent and Germany up

9.7 per cent for the month.

“The continued growth from

the US is great news as we start to ramp up our activity

ahead of the worldwide release of The Hobbit: The Desolation

of Smaug, with the world premiere in Los Angeles on 2

December, 2013.

“With New Zealand once again the

focus of international attention we have a full programme of

activity in place to leverage the exposure.

“Our

innovative, walk-through multi- media display, The Book of

New Zealand, will bring the 100% Middle-earth, 100% Pure New

Zealand campaign to life for all to see.

“Opening on

the evening of 30 November at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in

Beverly Hills, California, for five days the sprawling

installation will tell the story of New Zealand as a fun,

must-see tourism destination – and is sure to motivate all

those who experience it to share the wider New Zealand

story.”

ENDS

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Holiday arrivals drive continued growth