Provisional data on international travel. This page includes three series: weekly travel data, daily arrivals and departures data, and stock estimates of travellers.
Download data
On this page:
- What is measured
- Release frequency
- About the weekly travel data
- About the daily arrivals and departures data
- Stock estimates of travellers
- Latest information releases
- More data
- Contact us
What is measured
Three different data series are presented with different reference dates:
- Weekly travel data for short-term overseas visitor and New Zealand resident arrivals. Weekly and four-weekly data in the downloadable files include the 10 main source and 10 main destination countries, as well as world regions and totals. The CSV files include additional source and main destination countries.
Data is in the downloadable files - Daily arrivals and departures data based solely on border-crossings into and out of New Zealand. These data do not incorporate arrival card information so no breakdown of traveller type (eg overseas visitor, New Zealand resident) is available.
Data is in the downloadable file: ‘Daily movements across New Zealand border’. - Stock estimates of travellers: visitors in New Zealand, and New Zealand residents travelling overseas, based on arrivals and departures.
Stock estimates of travellers data
All of these data series are provisional and subject to revision during the full process of producing international travel statistics.
Release frequency
All data series are updated weekly; however, we will regularly review the release frequency.
Processing travel data
Arrival card data are supplied to Stats NZ to enable full processing of international travel data. This processing includes the classification of arrivals as overseas visitors or New Zealand-resident travellers. There may be delays in processing due to delayed data supply or large travel volumes.
About the weekly travel data
Weekly and four-weekly data is provided for short-term overseas visitor and New Zealand resident arrivals. Data is in the downloadable file ‘Provisional international travel statistics’ and includes the 10 main source and 10 main destination countries, as well as world regions and totals.
Two CSV files are available, as an alternative way of accessing provisional international travel data. The CSV files provide additional variables for overseas visitor and NZ resident arrivals including: two extra main source countries; one extra main destination country; length of stay or absence; main travel purpose; and selected New Zealand ports.
Length of stay or absence
All overseas visitors have their length of stay calculated based on their date of arrival to date of departure. Length of stay is a dynamic variable and is subject to revision.
All New Zealand-resident travellers have their length of absence calculated based on their date of departure to date of arrival.
Rounding
All passenger counts are rounded to the nearest 10. Totals may differ due to rounding and individual figures may not sum to totals. The rounding was implemented to allow the extra detail in the new CSV files.
About the daily arrivals and departures data
Information on travellers entering and exiting New Zealand based solely on border-crossings into and out of New Zealand. These data do not incorporate arrival card information so no breakdown of traveller type (eg overseas visitor, New Zealand resident) is available.
The data does include a breakdown by age-sex, citizenship (NZ, non-NZ), overseas port and NZ port. A summarised daily update is also published on Stats NZ’s COVID-19 data portal.
The data was first released on 25 March 2020, including border-crossings up to 22 March 2020. Data released each week typically includes border crossings with a lag of one day to the date of publication. Data is in the downloadable file ‘Daily movements across New Zealand border’.
On 1 March 2023 we split the file “Daily movements across New Zealand border…” into two files. One file contains data from January 2019-December 2021, and a second file, updated weekly, contains data from January 2022 onwards. Each file includes a graph comparing daily arrivals and departures for the respective periods.
Stock estimates of travellers
Early estimates as at 19 January 2024:
- 160,000-190,000 New Zealand residents travelling overseas – includes New Zealand and non-New Zealand citizens who have been living in New Zealand.
See also: New Zealand residents travelling overseas (published 19 March 2020).
- 200,000-230,000 visitors from overseas in New Zealand – includes Australian and New Zealand citizens visiting New Zealand, as well as visitors on work, student, visitor and other visa types.
See also: Visitors from overseas in New Zealand (published 25 March 2020).
From 31 January 2024 we will no longer publish an estimated regional breakdown of overseas visitors. This is because Stats NZ is no longer receiving the cellphone-tower location data for international devices in New Zealand, which was used to estimate regional distributions. For more information or to provide feedback please contact [email protected].
- Of those visitors from overseas, an estimated regional breakdown is based on cellphone-tower location data for international devices in New Zealand (Source: Data Ventures). These regional estimates allow for uncertainty in the location data and the national estimate of visitors from overseas:
○ Northland 5,400-7,600
○ Auckland 73,500-103,300
○ Waikato 15,500-21,800
○ Bay of Plenty 10,900-15,300
○ Gisborne 1,100-1,600
○ Hawke’s Bay 4,600-6,500
○ Taranaki 2,700-3,800
○ Manawatū-Whanganui 4,500-6,300
○ Wellington 14,400-20,200
○ Tasman 2,000-2,800
○ Nelson 1,500-2,100
○ Marlborough 2,200-3,100
○ West Coast 1,700-2,400
○ Canterbury 21,500-30,200
○ Otago 14,700-20,600
○ Southland 3,800-5,400.
More data
Use Infoshare to access time-series data for international travel and migration:
Subject category: Tourism
Group: International travel and migration – ITM
Contact us
Email [email protected] for feedback on the statistics presented here.
