Encouraging signs in latest arrival stats

File photo

A later-than-usual Easter holiday bumped up visitor numbers last month, and brought back the Australian tourists missing from the March statistics.

Short-term visitor arrivals climbed 5 per cent to 197,800 in April, according to Statistics New Zealand, with 8100 more Australians coming across the Tasman during the Easter holiday period.

One economist says today's arrival numbers are an encouraging sign that the impact of the Christchurch earthquake may not be long lasting.

Some 2900 more Brits visited New Zealand in April, that's 21 per cent higher than April 2010, arresting some of the decline from UK tourists over the past couple of years.

Government data showed tourist spending fell 6.1 per cent to $5.6 billion in the 12 months ended March 31, even though more than 2.5 million people visited the nation over that period.

The officials put it down to increasing business trips from Australian visitors who spent $129 million less than they did during the same period a year earlier.

ASB bank economist Jane Turner said today's visitor stats were "an encouraging result", suggesting the February Christchurch earthquake may not have a long lasting impact on New Zealand tourism.

"Australia showed a strong bounce back, and Stats NZ note that the different timing of Australian school holidays was a factor in this. However, the bounce back was not limited to Australia, with arrivals from the UK, other Europe and Asia (excluding Japan, Korea and China) all recovering from the previous months decline," said Turner.

"However, visitors from the US stayed away, while arrivals from Japan, Korea and China deteriorated further. In the case of Japan, the earthquake and tsunami in March may also be contributing to the fall in arrivals."

Turner said while migration departures eased slightly, they remained at very high levels, particularly to Australia.
"Prior to the earthquake, the trend of leaving to Australia due to the stronger labour market was already in place. The February earthquake has added to this momentum."

Turner said she expected that departures to Australia would remain elevated this year.

"Departures will continue as Christchurch residents become increasingly frustrated with delays in the rebuilding process. Also many may be waiting for insurance payouts before opting to relocate."

Despite the encouraging signs for tourism, conditions in the industry remained challenging, said Turner.

"Anecdotally, fewer are visiting the South Island as a result of the earthquake, and tourism operators are struggling in the area of the country. In addition, the industry has also experienced a decline in spend-per-visitor over the past year. With the New Zealand dollar remaining elevated, these challenges will remain in place."

Net migration stayed negative in April, with 1600 more departures than arrivals in the month, for an annual inflow of 5500 people.

Almost 3200 New Zealanders left for Australia last month, the most for an April month since 2008, and some $27,700 kiwis have jumped across the Tasman in the past 12 months.

WITH NZ HERALD STAFF