External Migration: December 2005

Visitor Arrivals Down 2 Percent

There were 307,100 short-term overseas visitor arrivals to New Zealand in December 2005, a decrease of 6,000 (2 percent) from December 2004, Statistics New Zealand said today. More visitors came from China and Samoa and fewer from Australia and the United Kingdom compared with the previous December.

Seasonally adjusted monthly visitor arrivals were up 2 percent in December 2005, following a decrease of 1 percent in November 2005.

In the year ended December 2005, there were 2.383 million visitor arrivals, up 35,300 (2 percent) on the December 2004 year.

New Zealand residents departed on 188,400 short-term overseas trips in December 2005, an increase of 14,800 (8 percent) on December 2004. There were more trips to Australia and the United Kingdom, but fewer to Korea and Norfolk Island.

In the December 2005 year, there were 1.872 million New Zealand resident short-term departures, up 8 percent on the 1.733 million in the previous December year.

Permanent and long-term (PLT) arrivals exceeded departures by 1,100 in December 2005, compared with an excess of 300 arrivals in December 2004. The seasonally adjusted series recorded a net PLT inflow of 1,300 in December 2005, compared with a net inflow of 900 a month earlier.

In the December 2005 year, there was a net PLT migration gain of 7,000, down 54 percent from the net inflow of 15,100 people recorded in the previous December year.

Brian Pink
Government Statistician

ENDS

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