Overseas visitors increase in September

Overseas visitor arrivals increased in September 2022 but are still below the numbers seen in September months pre-COVID, Stats NZ said today.

There were 151,300 overseas visitor arrivals in September 2022, up from 129,800 in August 2022.

The September 2022 number is 58 percent of the 261,800 overseas visitor arrivals in September 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Overseas visitor arrivals are people living overseas who are travelling to New Zealand for a stay of less than 12 months. They include both New Zealand citizens and non-New Zealand citizens.

“In recent months, most of the visitor arrivals have been non-New Zealand citizens,” population indicators manager Tehseen Islam said. “This is a reversal of the pattern during most of 2020 and 2021, when a large share of visitor arrivals were New Zealand citizens.”

Of the 151,300 overseas visitor arrivals in September 2022:

• 70 percent were from Australia (compared with 51 percent in September 2019)
• 5 percent were from the United States (6 percent in September 2019)
• 4 percent were from United Kingdom (3 percent in September 2019)
• 2 percent were from Singapore (2 percent in September 2019).

Although overseas visitors from Australia continue to dominate, visitors from other countries have increased as border restrictions have gradually relaxed from March 2022.

Australia main destination for New Zealand-resident travellers

In September 2022, 170,800 New Zealand residents returned from a short-term (less than 12 months) trip overseas. This is 61 percent of the 279,800 New Zealand resident arrivals in September 2019.

Of the 170,800 New Zealand-resident arrivals in September 2022:

• 40 percent returned from Australia (compared with 40 percent in September 2019)
• 12 percent returned from Fiji (7 percent in September 2019)
• 7 percent returned from the United Kingdom (6 percent in September 2019)
• 7 percent returned from the United States (8 percent in September 2019)
• 6 percent returned from the Cook Islands (4 percent in September 2019).