Global Economy Weakens Tourism Spend

Global Economy Weakens Tourism Spend

Spending by international tourists declined by 2.2% to $6.0 billion in the year to March 2010, according to data released today by the Ministry of Tourism. “The results from the International Visitor Survey (IVS) reflect the challenging operating environment faced by the tourism industry over the past year,” says Bruce Bassett, Ministry of Tourism Research Manager. “While visitor numbers have been improving, overall spend has decreased.”

Australian visitor numbers and spend have helped to soften the negative impact over the past year, however the weakening of New Zealand’s longhaul markets has affected the overall result. The main highlights are:

• Australian spend is up by 9.4% to $1.8 billion and is responsible for cushioning a decline in overall spend.

• Non-Australian expenditure is down by 6.4% to $4.2 billion. This decline is largely due to weaker arrivals and spend from the US, UK and Japanese markets.

The global recession has been the main driver of weaker performance with the added influence of last year’s influenza pandemic which affected outbound travel from key Asian markets.

Mr Bassett said that travellers were more cautious in their spending in the current economic climate and that this drove down their overall expenditure levels.

“The recession means travellers generally tighten their belts and at the same time unfavourable exchange rates make New Zealand a more expensive place to visit. The tourism industry has been working hard to counter these influences by stimulating demand through sharpening prices, but the overall result is lower expenditure levels.”

“The effect of the global recession continues to be felt by the New Zealand tourism industry. The performance of New Zealand over the coming periods will depend on the wider economic performance and recovery of our key markets.”

ENDS

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