More inbound and outbound travellers

There were increases in both short-term overseas visitor arrivals and short-term New Zealand resident departures in August 2007, when compared with August 2006, Statistics New Zealand said today.

The 164,800 visitor arrivals in August 2007 were up 9,100 (6 percent) from August 2006. Short-term departures of New Zealand residents numbered 177,900, up 14,100 (9 percent).

The increase in visitor arrivals was mainly due to 8,600 (12 percent) more visitors from Australia. This follows a 15 percent increase in Australian visitors in July 2007, compared with July 2006.

In the year ended August 2007, there were 2.473 million visitor arrivals, up 91,800 (4 percent) from the previous year. Visitors from Australia, China and the United Kingdom contributed most of this increase. However, there were fewer visitors from Japan and the United States.

New Zealand residents departed on 88,700 short-term trips to Australia in August 2007. This is up from the 78,700 trips to Australia in August 2006, but slightly below the 89,100 trips across the Tasman in August 2005.

In the August 2007 year, New Zealand residents departed on 1.937 million trips, up 75,700 (4 percent) from the previous year. Trips to Australia were up 43,700 (5 percent) but trips to Fiji were down 10,500 (10 percent). This decrease saw the annual number of trips to Fiji drop to 99,100, the first time they have been below 100,000 since the December 2004 year.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, permanent and long-term (PLT) arrivals exceeded departures by 700 in August 2007. This follows net inflows of 600 in June and 500 in July. Actual PLT departures of New Zealand citizens were up 700 and PLT arrivals of non-New Zealand citizens were up 500, compared with August 2006.

Net PLT migration was 8,700 in the August 2007 year, down from the net gain of 12,500 in the August 2006 year.