Migration, tourism continue to surge on post-Covid recovery

StatsNZ says New Zealand's net migration rate is back at historically normal levels. Photo / Dean Purcell

New Zealand’s annual net migration gain has continued to surge back to historically normal levels - hitting 33,200 for the year to the end of January.

The 130,800 migrant arrivals and 97,700 migrant departures for the January 2023 year were above the pre-Covid average for January years between 2002–2020.

The provisional net migration gain of 33,200 in the year ended January 2023 was made up of a net loss of 16,400 New Zealand citizens, which was more than offset by a net gain of 49,500 non-New Zealand citizens, StatsNZ said.

“This is consistent with migration patterns before the Covid-19 pandemic, where New Zealand usually had an annual net migration loss of New Zealand citizens and an annual net migration gain of non-New Zealand citizens.”

There have been 10 consecutive months of net migration gains of non-New Zealand citizens from April 2022, amounting to 50,800.

This net migration gain compares with a net migration loss of 32,300 non-New Zealand citizens in the 24 months from April 2020 to March 2022, when Covid-19-related border and travel restrictions were in place.

Meanwhile, the latest data for tourist arrivals showed January 2023 was the first month to see more than 1 million border crossings since Covid-19 restrictions were introduced in March 2020, Stats NZ said.

There were 514,100 arrivals and 497,000 departures in January 2023.

”People have started to travel again. January 2023 border crossings are two-thirds of the 1.5 million that travelled in January 2020, before the pandemic,” population indicators manager Tehseen Islam said.

Border crossings include all arrivals and departures, either for short-term trips or longer-term migration, by people living overseas or in New Zealand.

There were 265,400 overseas visitor arrivals in January 2023, compared with 4000 in January 2022.

“We are seeing overseas visitor numbers rebound, although they are about two-thirds of the level before the pandemic,” Islam said.

The peak season for overseas visitor arrivals to New Zealand is typically from December to February.

Australia remained the main source of visitor arrivals in January 2023, with about two in every five from there. This was followed by the United States (15 per cent) and the United Kingdom (10 per cent).

Visitor arrivals from China remained well down in January 2023, with 4900 arriving compared with 50,300 in January 2020. China was New Zealand’s second-largest source of visitor arrivals immediately before the pandemic.