Travel stats show NZ had more visitors last year, with boom in Americans and big lift in December

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Minister for Tourism Louise Upston talking about tourism and economic growth on Sunday. Photo / Alex Burton

New data shows more overseas tourists visited last year than in 2023, with some record numbers from the USA.

Overseas visitor arrivals were 3.31 million last year, Stats NZ said today.

That was an increase of 357,000 from December 2023.

More visitors arrived from all the major markets of Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the UK and the USA.

“The number of overseas visitor arrivals from the United States was a record for a December year from that country,” Stats NZ said.

“The United States was the second largest source of overseas visitor arrivals in 2024, behind Australia.”

In December 2024, overseas visitor arrivals numbered 469,800, up 51,000 from December 2023.

Of the 469,800 overseas visitor arrivals in December 2024, 41% were from Australia and 13% were from the USA.

But the overall international travel numbers last year were still below levels recorded before the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The total number of overseas visitor arrivals in December 2024 was 89% of the 528,200 in December 2019,” Stats NZ added.

The Stats NZ data emerged a day after the Government launched a new tourism campaign aimed at enticing Australian holidaymakers to New Zealand.

The Hotel Council Aotearoa (HCA) welcomed the new campaign.

“International visitor arrivals to New Zealand were largely stagnant last year and stalled at 88% of pre-Covid levels,” the HCA said yesterday.