More visitors from China and Australia

 

Visitor arrivals in January 2011 numbered 265,600, up 3 percent from January 2010, Statistics New Zealand said today.

"Much of the growth in visitor arrivals continued to come from China and Australia," Population Statistics manager Bridget Hamilton-Seymour said. "Visitors from China increased by 5,100 compared with January 2010. This was influenced by the earlier timing of the Chinese New Year holiday period, which is a popular time for travel. Visitors from Australia increased by 1,700 due to more arrivals from Queensland and Victoria."

Annual visitor arrivals numbered 2.534 million in the January 2011 year, up 3 percent from the previous year.

New Zealand residents took 117,700 overseas trips in January 2011, 10 percent more than in January 2010. The leading increases were to Australia (up 2,000), India (up 900), New Caledonia (up 800), and China (up 700).  

In the January 2011 year, New Zealand residents took 2.037 million overseas trips, up 6 percent from the January 2010 year.

Net migration remains positive

Seasonally adjusted net permanent and long-term migration (arrivals minus departures) was 400 in January 2011. In the last 12 months, this series has varied between a low of 200 (in June 2010) and a high of 1,000 (in September 2010).

Unadjusted permanent and long-term departures to Australia numbered 5,400 in January 2011, between the comparable figures for January 2009 (5,700) and January 2010 (4,000).

Net migration in the year ended January 2011 was 8,700, down from 22,600 the previous year, and below the average annual net migration gain of 12,000 over the last 20 years (ended January 1991–2010).

Geoff Bascand 9 March 2011

Government Statistician