Tourist Spending Exceeds $18 Billion

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Tourist Spending Exceeds $18 Billion

Tourism expenditure in New Zealand reached $18.6 billion for the year ended March 2006, according to the Tourism Satellite Account: 2006 published today by Statistics New Zealand.

Total tourism expenditure, consisting of spending by international and domestic (household, business and government) tourists, increased 3.2 percent ($573 million) from the previous March year.

Other key results from the Tourism Satellite Account: 2006 include: • International tourism expenditure increased to $8.3 billion, or 19.2 percent of New Zealand’s exports, compared with 18.9 percent for the previous year.

• Domestic tourism expenditure surpassed $10.3 billion for the first time.

• Tourism directly contributed $6.9 billion (or 4.8 percent) to gross domestic product for the year ended March 2006.

• The indirect value-added of industries supporting tourism (that is, where there is no direct relationship between the producer and the tourist) contributed an additional $5.9 billion to tourism.

• The tourism industry directly employed 108,600 full-time equivalent employees (or 5.9 percent of total employment in New Zealand), an increase of 3.6 percent from the previous year.

• Tourists generated $1.3 billion in goods and services tax (GST) revenue.

The Tourism Satellite Account: 2006 is available on the Statistics New Zealand website (www.stats.govt.nz) or via the Statistics New Zealand Information Centre.

Geoff Bascand
Government Statistician

ENDS

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