Small Increase in Visitor Arrivals

External Migration: September 2005

21 October 2005 Small Increase in Visitor Arrivals

There were 163,800 short-term overseas visitor arrivals to New Zealand in September 2005, an increase of 2,600 (2 percent) on September 2004, Statistics New Zealand said today.

More visitors came from Australia, Fiji and Taiwan and fewer from Japan, the United States, Thailand and Korea compared with the previous September. Seasonally adjusted monthly visitor arrivals were up 2 percent in September 2005, following a fall of less than 1 percent in August 2005.

In the year ended September 2005, there were 2.400 million visitor arrivals, up 92,500 (4 percent) on the September 2004 year. Two countries – Australia (up 51,600) and the United Kingdom (up 29,500) – provided almost 90 percent of the annual increase. New Zealand residents departed on 195,800 short-term overseas trips in September 2005, an increase of 9,500 (5 percent) on September 2004. There were more trips to Australia, the United Kingdom and China, and fewer trips to Tonga.

In the September 2005 year, there were 1.850 million New Zealand resident short-term departures, up 11 percent on the 1.667 million in the previous year. Permanent and long-term (PLT) arrivals exceeded departures by 2,000 in September 2005, compared with an excess of 2,200 arrivals in September 2004.

The seasonally adjusted series recorded a net PLT inflow of 500 in September 2005, compared with a net inflow of 600 a month earlier. In the September 2005 year, there was a net PLT migration gain of 6,400, down 64 percent from the net inflow of 17,800 people recorded in the previous September year.

Brian Pink

Government Statistician

ENDS

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