Overseas visitor numbers lift in July

For the first month since March 2020 the number of overseas visitor arrivals exceeded 100,000, Stats NZ said today.

There were 134,200 overseas visitor arrivals in July 2022. This coincided with school holidays in Australia and New Zealand. The July 2022 number is just over half of the 255,600 overseas visitor arrivals in July 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of the 134,200 overseas visitor arrivals in July 2022:

• 58 percent arrived at Auckland airport (compared with 67 percent in July 2019)
• 23 percent arrived at Queenstown airport (16 percent in July 2019)
• 12 percent arrived at Christchurch airport (12 percent in July 2019)
• 7 percent arrived at Wellington airport (6 percent in July 2019).

Australian visitors dominate

The number of overseas visitor arrivals has been steadily increasing since March 2022, as New Zealand’s border restrictions have been progressively relaxed. About 3 in every 4 overseas visitor arrivals in July 2022 were from Australia (94,200), continuing the pattern of recent months.

“The increase in overseas visitor arrivals in July was driven by Australian visitors and coincided with the Australian school holidays,” population indicators manager Tehseen Islam said.

“Australian school holidays varied by state but spanned late June to late July.”

The number of overseas visitor arrivals from Australia in July 2022 was three-quarters of the level in July 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. A holiday was the main purpose for travel given by 40,300 (45 percent) of the Australian visitors in July 2022, compared with 55,500 (45 percent) in July 2019.

In July 2022 almost half (45,000) of visitors from Australia arrived at Auckland airport, with just under one-third (29,400) arriving in Queenstown. Visitors from Australia typically make up a large share of overseas visitor arrivals to Queenstown, particularly in winter. In July 2022, 96 percent were visitors from Australia, higher than the 87 percent in July 2019.

Australia popular with New Zealand-resident travellers

July 2022 saw 165,000 New Zealand residents return from a short-term (less than 12 months) trip overseas. This was an increase of 60,000 on the month before and coincided with New Zealand school holidays in July.

The most popular destination in July 2022 was Australia, accounting for 42 percent of New Zealand-resident arrivals, followed by Fiji (14 percent), Cook Islands (8 percent), the United Kingdom (7 percent), and the United States (6 percent).

Provisional net migration loss of 12,400

Provisionally there were 52,100 migrant arrivals and 64,500 migrant departures, giving an annual net migration loss of 12,400 in the 12 months ended July 2022.

This was made up of net losses of 8,300 New Zealand citizens and 4,100 non-New Zealand citizens, based on the passport used to cross the border.

“After 88 consecutive months of net migration gains, the last 21 months has been mainly net migration losses,” Mr Islam said.

“Many of those departing over the last two years were migrants who arrived in the preceding seven years.”

The net migration gain across those 88 months, from July 2013 to October 2020, amounted to 399,600. The provisional net migration loss across the last 21 months, from November 2020 to July 2022, amounted to 22,500.