External Migration - year ended December 1999
Rebound of Overseas Visitors in 1999
There was a record 1.607 million overseas visitor arrivals in the December 1999 year, up 8 per cent on the 1998 total,
said Deputy Government Statistician Dianne Macaskill. This rise has reversed the declining trend of the last two years.
About 33 per cent of visitors came from Australia (523,430), 24 per cent from Asia (381,320), 19 per cent from Europe
(313, 190) and 13 per cent from Northern America (214,440).
Over half of the visitors came to New Zealand mainly for a holiday. However, over the last five years (1995-1999) the
proportion of holidaymakers has fallen from 57 per cent to 51 per cent. There has been a corresponding increase in the
proportions arriving to visit friends or relatives, up from 22 per cent to 26 per cent, and for business travellers from
11 per cent to 12 per cent.
The average length of stay of overseas visitors was 20 days in 1999. Visitors from the United Kingdom stayed the
longest, averaging 31 days, compared with visitors from Germany (30 days), Canada (27 days), Korea (18 days) and the
United States (16 days). The largest group of visitors to New Zealand were those aged 25-29 years (11 percent), followed
by 30-34 years (10 percent), 35-39 years (9 percent) and 50-54 years (9 percent).
In 1999 there was a net loss of 9,030 permanent and long-term migrants from New Zealand. This consisted of a net loss of
30,660 New Zealand nationals, mainly to Australia (23,440), the United Kingdom (4,360) and the United States (680), and
a net gain of 21,640 non-New Zealand nationals, largely from China (3,080), the United Kingdom (2,660), South Africa
(2,160), Japan (2,130) and India (1,600).
Dianne Macaskill
DEPUTY GOVERNMENT STATISTICIAN
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