International visitor expenditure up nine per cent in March

International visitor expenditure up nine per cent in March 2014 year

Total visitor spend in New Zealand was up by nine per cent in the year ended March 2014 compared to the March 2013 year, according to the latest quarterly International Visitor Survey released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

The Ministry’s Sector Performance Manager Peter Ellis says this increase puts total expenditure by visitors at $7 billion over the March 2014 year.

“This confirms what industry-watchers have been saying, that from the beginning of 2013 tourism business has picked up after five or six years that were really tough apart from the Rugby World Cup,” he says.

Total spending by visitors from the USA in this latest twelve month period was up an estimated 55 per cent to $727 million and spending by visitors from China rose 19 per cent to $869 million.

Spending by those here for a holiday in total is up 18 per cent to $4.2 billion.

“These changes broadly reflect the movement in visitor arrivals over the same period, although there is some evidence of an increase in spend per person by holiday makers,” Mr Ellis says.
Summary statistics are available in attached table, which indicates statistically significant changes in red/blue font.
Further details, including relative margins of error for the most common combinations of variables, are available on the Ministry’s website. The data tables on NZ.Stat will be updated in mid June 2014.
The survey results and information about the survey can be read online.
The International Visitor Survey is based on results from approximately 8,900 visitors departing New Zealand airports, with data released quarterly.

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