International visitors spend $11.7 billion in New Zealand in year to September

Newly released data from the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has shown that international visitors spent $11.7 billion,a 30% increase on 2022/23, in the year to September 2024.

Holiday visitor expenditure was the largest purpose of visits, representing expenditure of $7.1 billion for the period,

Welcoming the findings, Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) Chief Executive, Rebecca Ingram stated “it is great to see such strong value growth from our holiday visitors - what this tells us is that there are retail stores, cafes, restaurants, accommodation and transport providers that welcomed and benefited from our international manuhiri in the last year.”

Spend is one part of the equation, with the information highlighting that satisfaction levels remain very high, with 90% of visitors highlighting they were satisfied or very satisfied with their New Zealand experience and 95% indicating their holiday met or exceeded their expectations.

Ingram noted “(this) information reinforces the strong value-led contribution of the industry, and it’s really worth celebrating as we head into the summer season when businesses host most of their customers.”

Coming summer an important one
Explaining that tourism businesses and many hospitality and retail businesses are preparing to welcome visitors from across New Zealand and from overseas this summer, Ingram moted “tourism brings economic diversity, resilience, generates jobs and fosters regional prosperity while showcasing our cultural richness and fostering pride of place. We’re looking forward to making a difference this season to the over 300,000 kiwis directly and indirectly employed by tourism.

“We always thought it would take a few years for tourism to regain its momentum, today’s information confirms this. There is opportunity to make an even greater contribution to our economy and the communities we’re part of.

“We believe that, with the right settings, tourism could be worth $55 billion a year by 2030. The Government’s recently announced Tourism Growth Roadmap is a great next step and we’re looking forward to working with them on this.”

China visitor information is back
Notably, travellers from China are now back in suitable numbers for MBIE to provide China specific spend data - spending $1.2 billion in New Zealand over the year to the end of Sepyember 2024.

Australia was the largest market, spending $3.5 billion, up 9.4%, over the year while visitors from the United States spent $1.6 billion, up 23.1%, reinforcing the importance of this market through the current period.

The IVS
The MBIE International Visitor Survey (IVS) for the year ending September 2024 reports on data gathered from travellers as they are leaving New Zealand.

The survey has questions ranging from how much visitors spent, how long and where they stayed, to how they rated their experience, how they got around and why they chose to visit New Zealand.

Image: Rotorua's Wai Ariki Hot Springs and Spa.