NZ Holiday arrivals drive continued growth
Source: Travel Memo 26/11/13
Arrival figures for OCT13 show that an increase in the
number of holiday makers continues to drive the overall growth in arrivals to
New Zealand. 
Tourism New Zealand’s GM Corporate Affairs Chris Roberts says the strong holiday growth is good news for the tourism industry – with holiday arrivals up 6.4% per cent for the month, and 7.9% for the year.
“This growth is an additional 91,808 holiday visitors to New Zealand over the past year.” Total arrivals were up 5.8% for the month and 4.6% for the year ending OCT13.
Total Chinese arrivals were up 22.5% year-on-year. However, arrivals from China were down in OCT13, by 11.6%, a result forecast by Tourism New Zealand.
China’s new travel law came into effect on 01OCT, effectively requiring travel sellers in China to offer better quality, and thus more expensive, group tour packages both domestically and internationally.
“As expected we saw a dramatic change in the Chinese visitor mix during the month,” says Roberts. “A big drop in short stay group visa applications, down 45% for the month of October, and a 43% increase in longer stay and individual visitor visa approvals, indicates a shift to a better quality visitor and visitor experience – supporting our strategy to increase the value of the Chinese market to New Zealand.”
Holiday arrivals across Asia reported growth during the month, with Singapore up 31.6% and Korea up 2.7%.Tourism New Zealand’s priority markets also reported strong holiday arrival increases; New Zealand’s biggest market Australia was up 9.0%, United States up 13.3% and Germany up 9.7% for the month. “The continued growth from the US is great news as we start to ramp up our activity ahead of the worldwide release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, with the world premiere in Los Angeles on 02DEC.
“With New Zealand once again the focus of international
attention we have a full programme of activity in place to leverage the exposure.“Our
innovative, walk-through multi- media display, The Book of New Zealand, will
bring the 100% 
Middle-earth, 100% Pure New Zealand campaign to life for all to
see.
“Opening on the evening of 30 November at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, for five days the sprawling installation will tell the story of New Zealand as a fun, must-see tourism destination – and is sure to motivate all those who experience it to share the wider New Zealand story.”
