China drives increase in visitors

Visitor arrivals in the July 2010 month were 182,900, the highest number of visitors ever recorded for a July month, Statistics New Zealand said today.

There were more arrivals from a number of Asian countries in July 2010 compared with July 2009, with the largest increase from China (up 3,900).

"Although visitor numbers from Japan and Korea have only partially recovered after the H1N1 pandemic affected travel from those countries in July 2009, visitor arrivals from China have now exceeded levels before the pandemic," Population Statistics manager Bridget Hamilton-Seymour said.

Visitors from Australia continued to increase, up 2 percent from July 2009. This adds to a 20 percent increase between July 2008 and July 2009. However, fewer visitors arrived from the United Kingdom and the United States in July 2010.

Visitor arrivals to New Zealand were 2.508 million in the July 2010 year. Visitors from Australia accounted for 1.121 million, or 45 percent, of all visitors in the July 2010 year. A further 25 percent of visitors came from four countries: the United Kingdom (246,600), the United States (192,200), China (109,100), and Japan (86,300).

In July 2010, New Zealand residents departed on 208,000 overseas trips, 5 percent more than in July 2009. There were more trips to Australia, Samoa, China, Indonesia, the Cook Islands, and Japan. There were fewer trips to the United Kingdom (down 1,300). In the July 2010 year, New Zealand residents took 1.978 million overseas trips.

Net migration rebounds
On a seasonally adjusted basis, net permanent and long-term migration (arrivals minus departures) was 1,000 in July 2010. This series had decreased from 1,800 in January 2010 to 100 in June 2010. "The increase in net migration from June 2010 was due to a rebound in arrivals, although it is too early to say if this is temporary or will be sustained," Ms Hamilton-Seymour said.

The annual net migration gain was 15,200 in the July 2010 year, down from the recent peak of 22,600 in the January 2010 year. The main inflows of migrants were from the United Kingdom, India, and China.

There was a net outflow of 16,500 migrants to Australia, well down from 26,900 in the July 2009 year.