The recently released New Zealand International Visitor Survey shows some interesting statistics for the Land across the ditch.
In the year ended March 2005, international visitor expenditure was NZ$6.14 billion, down 2.7% from the previous year. Expenditure by the Holiday market rose by 9% to NZ$3.2 billion.
Visitor expenditure from Australia was NZ$1.4 billion in the year ended March 2005 with an average spend of NZ$1,772 per visitor. The average spend per day of Australian visitors was $144 in the year to March, behind only the USA ($174 per day) and Japan ($169 per day) of New Zealands major visiting markets.
Auckland achieved a 7.8% increase in Australian visitors in the year ended March 2005 with 438,648.
Wellington achieved a 15.3% increase with 190,551.
Christchurch had 253,182 with a whopping 26.6% increase.
Australian visitors’ average stay in Wellington was seven nights – longer than the average Australian length of stay anywhere else in New Zealand.
“We have achieved an increase of 25,246 people in a 12-month period: that’s equivalent to about 180 additional flights per year, or 3.5 per week, with a 140-seat aircraft,” said Chris Lamers, General Manager Marketing of Positively Wellington Tourism.
“There has also been a huge increase in Australian accommodation room nights, exceeding 1.5 million in the year to the end of March 2005 – a 64.3% increase over the previous year,” said Mr Lamers.
Meanwhile yesterday in Queenstown, which last year attracted 152,406 Aussies , up 11.4%, Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive George Hickton spoke of the increasing competition for the travellers’ dollar in the holiday town, with a range of new accoommodation venues available.
“There’ll be more competition but the tourists will love it – more tourists will be able to come in the peak season, but obviously that’ll put a lot of pressure on accommodation providers,” Mr Hickton predicted.
Tourism forecasts for summer were “not spectacular” but slightly better than last year, predicting visitor growth of between 2 and 3 percent. He noted that New Zealand had to spend more on Tourism marketing if it wanted to compete with Australia and other emerging markets.
“We’re easily forgettable,” he said.
