Visitor arrivals
Monthly visitor arrivals
Short-term overseas visitor arrivals to New Zealand numbered 253,500 in January 2008, an increase of 6,800 (3 percent) from January 2007. The previous high for a January month was 250,600 visitor arrivals in 2006.
Seasonally adjusted visitor arrivals were unchanged between December 2007 and January 2008. This followed a decrease of 1 percent between November and December 2007.
The estimated average number of visitors who were in New Zealand during January 2008 was 201,500 per day, up less than 1 percent from an average of 200,500 in January 2007. Estimated numbers of visitors in the country are calculated from the date of arrival and intended length of stay of sampled visitor arrivals. The average intended stay of visitors who arrived in January 2008 was 24 days, and the median (half are shorter, and half are longer, than this duration) was 12 days.
Annual visitor arrivals
During the January 2008 year, there were 2.472 million visitor arrivals, up 54,700 (2 percent) from the January 2007 year.
A holiday was the main reason for travel for 1.215 million visitor arrivals to New Zealand in the January 2008 year, up 23,900 (2 percent) from the previous year. Another 713,200 arrived to visit friends and relatives (up 22,800 or 3 percent) and 268,800 arrived for business (down 1,600 or 1 percent).
Note: Provisional international travel statistics, including weekly and four-weekly visitor arrival data, are available on the Statistics NZ website:
www.stats.govt.nz. This data is updated each week with the most recently available information on visitor arrivals from 10 major source countries.
Visitors by source country
There were 80,900 visitor arrivals from Australia in January 2008, up 6,200 (8 percent) from January 2007. More visitors also arrived from the United States (up 3,400 or 15 percent), with most of the increase due to cruise passengers. More cruise passengers and new air services between Auckland and Vancouver contributed to 1,400 more visitors arriving from Canada compared with January 2007. Visitor arrivals from China were up 1,200 (13 percent), helped by the earlier timing of the Chinese New Year holiday period compared with 2007.
Visitor arrivals from the United Kingdom in January 2008 (42,400) were down 3,300 (7 percent) from January 2007, but equalled the January 2006 figure. Compared with January 2007, there were also fewer visitor arrivals from Korea (down 3,200 or 23 percent) and Japan (down 2,100 or 17 percent).
In the year ended January 2008, there were more visitors from Oceania (up 57,100 or 6 percent) and the Americas (up 1,000 or less than 1 percent) compared with the January 2007 year. Fewer visitors arrived from Asia (down 7,100 or 1 percent) and Europe (down 5,000 or 1 percent).
Australia (up 53,500 or 6 percent) and China (up 15,500 or 15 percent) provided the largest increases in visitor arrivals in the January 2008 year. Increases in visitor arrivals were also recorded from South Africa (up 3,400 or 18 percent), Canada (up 3,000 or 6 percent), and Thailand (up 2,300 or 13 percent).
In the January 2008 year, China overtook Japan to become New Zealand's fourth largest source of visitor arrivals. Visitor arrivals from China numbered 122,000, compared with 119,500 visitors from Japan. The figure for Japan was down 14,000 (10 percent) from the previous year and well down from the peak of 174,800 in the January 2003 year. This is the first time since the August 1980 year that Japan has not been one of the top four visitor sources.
Decreases in visitor arrivals were also recorded for Korea (down 16,100 or 14 percent), the United Kingdom (down 8,600 or 3 percent) and the United States (down 5,400 or 2 percent) in the January 2008 year.
Note: Detailed visitor data will be available in the January 2008 edition of International Visitor Arrivals to New Zealand, which can be ordered via the Statistics NZ website:www.stats.govt.nz.
New Zealand resident departures
Monthly resident departures
New Zealand residents departed on 111,200 short-term overseas trips in January 2008, up 2,200 (2 percent) from the 109,100 departures in January 2007.
There were 53,300 short-term trips by New Zealand residents to Australia in January 2008, down 5,100 (9 percent) from January 2007. In contrast, trips to New Caledonia (up 1,000) almost quadrupled and trips to Vanuatu (up 500) more than doubled, mainly because of an increase in cruise passengers. There were also more trips to China (up 1,000 or 25 percent) and Canada (up 600 or 72 percent). Non-stop flights between Auckland and Vancouver were introduced at the beginning of November 2007.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, New Zealand resident departures decreased 2 percent between December 2007 and January 2008. This followed little change in this series between October and December 2007.
The estimated average number of New Zealand residents who were temporarily overseas during January 2008 was 130,200 per day, up 5 percent from the average of 124,200 in January 2007. Estimates of the number of residents overseas are calculated from the date of departure and intended length of absence of sampled resident departures. The average intended absence of residents who departed in January 2008 was 21 days, and the median was 11 days.
Annual resident departures
In the January 2008 year, there were 1.982 million resident departures, up 117,200 (6 percent) from the January 2007 year. There were more resident departures to Oceania (up 55,400 or 5 percent), Asia (up 18,300 or 8 percent), Europe (up 16,500 or 10 percent) and the Americas (up 7,600 or 7 percent), compared with the January 2007 year.
The largest increase was in resident departures to Australia (up 42,000 or 5 percent), which was the destination for about half of New Zealand residents departing on short-term trips in the January 2008 year. There were also more trips to China (up 8,400 or 17 percent), France (up 7,000 or 60 percent), the Cook Islands (up 6,300 or 14 percent), the United Kingdom (up 5,800 or 7 percent), Samoa (up 5,700 or 18 percent) and the United States (up 5,400 or 6 percent).
Trips to Fiji numbered 97,500 in the year ended January 2008, down 8,200 (8 percent) from the previous year, influenced by the political situation in that country.
A holiday was the main reason for travel of 838,800 New Zealand residents who departed in the January 2008 year, up 56,100 (7 percent) from the previous year. Another 620,400 were departing to visit friends and relatives (up 43,400 or 8 percent) and 288,700 were departing for business purposes (up 5,600 or 2 percent).
Note: Provisional international travel statistics, including weekly and four-weekly resident departure data, are available on the Statistics NZ website:
www.stats.govt.nz. This data is updated each week with the most recently available information on resident departures to 10 major destination countries.
Permanent and long-term migration
Definition
Permanent and long-term (PLT) arrivals include people who arrive in New Zealand intending to stay for a period of 12 months or more (or permanently), plus New Zealand residents returning after an absence of 12 months or more. Included in the former group are people with New Zealand residency, as well as students and holders of work permits. PLT departures include New Zealand residents departing for an intended period of 12 months or more (or permanently), plus overseas visitors departing New Zealand after a stay of 12 months or more.
Monthly PLT migration
PLT arrivals exceeded departures by 500 in January 2008, compared with an excess of 1,200 arrivals over departures in January 2007. The decrease in the net inflow was mainly due to 500 more New Zealand citizen departures to Australia and 200 more non-New Zealand citizen departures.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, PLT arrivals matched PLT departures in January 2008. This was also the case in December 2007. The net PLT series averaged about 500 per month between January and November 2007, and was above 1,000 for most months in 2006.
In January 2008, there was a net outflow of 4,100 PLT migrants to Australia, up from the outflow of 3,500 in January 2007. There was a net inflow of 1,200 from the United Kingdom and 300 each from India and South Africa.
Annual PLT migration
In the year ended January 2008, there were 82,500 PLT arrivals, down 300 (less than 1 percent) from the January 2007 year. Over the same period, there were 77,700 PLT departures, up 9,000 (13 percent). As a result, net PLT migration was 4,800 in the January 2008 year, down from 14,100 in the January 2007 year.
The net PLT migration gain of 4,800 in the year ended January 2008 is below the annual average of 11,800 recorded for the December years from 1990–2007. Net PLT migration varied substantially within this 18-year period. The net gain peaked at 30,200 in the April 1996 year and again at 42,500 in the May 2003 year. Net outflows were generally experienced during 1998–2001, with the highest being a net loss of 13,200 people recorded in the February 2001 year.
Annual PLT migration by citizenship
A net inflow of 38,000 non-New Zealand citizens and a net outflow of 33,200 New Zealand citizens were recorded in the year ended January 2008. The majority of the net outflow of New Zealand citizens was to Australia (29,100), followed by the United Kingdom (1,500), and Canada and the United Arab Emirates (both 400).
Compared with the January 2007 year, PLT arrivals of non-New Zealand citizens were up 600 and PLT arrivals of New Zealand citizens were down 900. There were 7,800 more PLT departures of New Zealand citizens and 1,200 more PLT departures of non-New Zealand citizens. Changes in non-New Zealand citizen departures are often related to changes in non-New Zealand citizen arrivals a few years earlier. Similarly, changes in New Zealand citizen arrivals are often related to changes in New Zealand citizen departures a few years earlier.
Annual PLT migration by country
In the year ended January 2008, there was a net inflow of 6,900 migrants from the United Kingdom, down from 10,700 the previous year. There were also net PLT inflows of 3,700 from India, 3,200 from the Philippines, 2,500 from Fiji, 1,900 from South Africa, 1,800 from China, and 1,700 from Germany.
The net PLT outflow to Australia was 28,600 in the January 2008 year, compared with 21,600 in the January 2007 year. This is the highest annual net outflow to Australia since the August 2001 year (29,100). The net outflow to Australia peaked at 31,800 in the May 2001 year, with earlier peaks in the January 1989 year (33,700) and the December 1979 year (33,400).
The net outflow to Australia was spread across both age and occupation groups. Migrants aged 15–29 years accounted for 40 percent (11,400) of the net outflow to Australia in the January 2008 year, while another 23 percent (6,600) were aged 0–14 years, 23 percent (6,600) were aged 30–44 years, 12 percent (3,500) were aged 45–59 years, and just 2 percent (500) were aged 60 years and over.
Net outflows to Australia were recorded in each broad occupation group, led by professionals (2,000), service and sales workers (1,800), trades workers (1,600) and technicians (1,300). There was also a net outflow to Australia of 11,800 people without an occupation, of which most were children or students.
Split PLT data
Statistics NZ began separately identifying permanent arrivals from long-term arrivals in July 2003 (departing migrants are also separately identified). Within the long-term group, a further distinction is made between overseas visitors coming to stay in New Zealand for 12 months or more (long-term overseas visitors) and New Zealand residents returning after an overseas stay of 12 months or more (long-term New Zealand residents).
The classification of a person as a permanent or long-term migrant depends on that person's responses to the questions on the arrival and departure cards. Both cards require completion of one of two sections, depending on whether or not the person feels that they live or have lived in New Zealand. The choice of which section to complete is up to the individual, and the answer may result in a person being misclassified – usually as a permanent migrant instead of a long-term migrant.
Of the 8,900 PLT arrivals in January 2008, there were 3,100 permanent migrants and 4,500 long-term visitors. A further 1,400 arrivals were returning long-term New Zealand residents.
For technical information contact:
Ian Richards or Nick Thomson
Christchurch 03 964 8700
Email: demography@stats.govt.nz