Inbound Travel Spend to New Zealand Set to Soar

A new global tourism study shows travel spend per person to New Zealand looks set to increase by more than 50 per cent despite findings also pointing to arrivals remaining stable. Visa’s latest Global Travel Intentions Study shows visitors to New Zealand reported travel budgets of an average $3,2711 per visit, however this is likely to increase significantly, with potential visitors indicating they plan to spend on average $4,948 on their next trip – well above the global average of what travellers intend to spend of $3,091 per trip.

Ross Jackson, Visa Head of Cross Border for Asia Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa – in New Zealand to release the survey findings – says New Zealand’s growth opportunities both in spend and arrivals are likely to come from the world’s fastest growing economies.

“The world is looking to China and other high growth markets and New Zealand is no different. Two per cent of people surveyed in China said they were most likely to travel to New Zealand in the next year, although 11 per cent of Chinese travellers indicated Australia would be their next holiday destination.

“In order to grow arrival numbers, New Zealand must continue to build on its marketing efforts. New Zealand as a destination is competing with near and far markets for tourists from growth markets. So it is important to ensure tourism connections and products are attuned to key insights and changing demographics of current and future source markets,” says Jackson.

The majority of tourists to New Zealand in 2012 came from Asia Pacific, with Australia remaining the largest source of arrivals making up 56 per cent of inbound visitors.

Caroline Ada, Visa Country Manager New Zealand and South Pacific, says although the results of the Visa Global Travel Intention study indicate that arrivals to New Zealand will be consistent with previous years there is an opportunity to focus on the bigger spenders, particularly female travellers.

“There’s an opportunity for New Zealand to look at how we market the destination to women as more women are travelling to New Zealand than men2. Plus they stay longer and spend more than men. On average female visitors to New Zealand stay for 16 nights compared to just ten for males and spend $500 more,” says Ada.

The study also found women were less likely to use cash than men while on Holiday in New Zealand3 and 75 per cent of women like to use credit, debit or travel cards over cash for security reasons and because it gives them the ability to track expenses.

On the whole, visitors to New Zealand have a high level of card ownership – 83 per cent of tourists have credit cards and 63 per cent have debit cards compared to 73 per cent and 58 per cent for the global average respectively.

“Travellers to New Zealand use their cards more frequently here than when they’re travelling to other destinations4. We know that people use cards in New Zealand because they feel it’s more convenient than cash, but cards are also used for unplanned purchases5,” said Ada.

While in New Zealand, respondents in the Visa Study said they spent their money shopping, eating and drinking, with 28 per cent of purchases happening in retail and another 25 per cent spent on food and beverages.

There is also a clear move towards spending money on package holidays. Tourists to New Zealand were most likely to have independently arranged their holiday (56 per cent). However, the number of people planning to arrange a packaged tour is increasing – about one in ten (12 per cent) people who have travelled in New Zealand booked a packaged tour, but 39 per cent of future travellers intend to take this more planned approach.

When it comes to deciding where to holiday next, picturesque landscapes and great weather are key drivers with future visitors claim scenery (47 per cent) and weather (37 per cent) are the biggest pull factors, even more than the friends and family they want to visit (30 per cent).

For more information, visit www.visa.co.nz.

Media Factsheet - Visa Global Travel Intentions Study 2013

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1 All figures shown are in NZD and have been converted from US based on an exchange rate of 1USD = 1.2367 NZD as at 29 July 2013
2 54 per cent of visitors to New Zealand were women
3 Female visitors use cash for 44 per cent of their expenses while in NZ, compared to the average of 50 per cent for male tourists