The release of New Zealand’s International Visitor Survey (IVS) July-September 2022, after a break of two years, shows visitors to the country spent $1.03 billion from July to September 2022 with most ($626 million) coming from Australian visitors.
Stuart Nash minister for Economic and Regional Development said “I’ve been confident that once New Zealand’s borders reopened, international tourists would return and spend throughout our regions and boost our economy. This survey shows that the world is still drawn to our fantastic country and international tourists are happy to pay for what New Zealand has to offer,”
International tourists spent $200m more than international visitors coming to see friends or relatives, despite making up a similar volume of arrivals. On average international holidaymaker spent $2,800 during their stay, while those visiting friends or relatives spent $1,500.
“Airline capacity also continues to increase and will average 70% of 2019 levels over summer. We had over 151,000 overseas visitor arrivals in September alone which is a real boost for our tourism sector.
“This injection to the economy is likely to increase as NZ welcomes more international visitors this summer,” said Stuart Nash.
