International Travel and Migration: April 2009

Visitor arrivals

Monthly visitor arrivals

Short-term overseas visitor arrivals to New Zealand numbered 195,900 in April 2009. This figure is up 16,500 (9 percent) from April 2008 (179,400) and is the highest ever recorded for an April month. The shift in the timing of Easter, from March in 2008 to April in 2009, contributed to the increase. For the combined months of March and April 2009, visitor arrivals were down 2 percent on the same two months in 2008.

The estimated average number of visitors in New Zealand per day in April 2009 was 141,800, down 1 percent from the average of 143,800 in April 2008. This estimate is calculated from the date of arrival and intended length of stay of sampled visitor arrivals. The average intended stay of visitors who arrived in April 2009 was 17 days, down from 19 days in April 2008. The median (half stay shorter, and half stay longer than this duration) was 9 days, up from 8 days in April 2008.

Monthly visitors by source country

In April 2009, visitor arrivals from Australia were up 16,800 (23 percent). The shift in the timing of Easter contributed to this large increase. In the week ending on 12 April 2009 (Easter Sunday), there were 31,900 visitors from Australia, compared with 18,500 visitors during the equivalent period in 2008.

There were also more visitors from Hong Kong (up 1,400 or 113 percent), Germany (up 900 or 31 percent), and Thailand (up 500 or 14 percent). While visitors from Hong Kong more than doubled compared with April 2008, the increase was only 800 (or 38 percent) compared with April 2007.

In contrast, there were fewer visitor arrivals from Korea (down 3,200 or 46 percent), Japan (down 1,100 or 16 percent), China (down 700 or 6 percent), and South Africa (down 500 or 22 percent).

Note: Provisional international travel statistics, including weekly and four-weekly visitor arrival data, are available on the Statistics NZ website. This data is updated each week with the most recently available information on visitor arrivals from 10 major source countries.

Annual visitor arrivals

During the April 2009 year, there were 2.417 million visitor arrivals, down 65,900 (3 percent) from the April 2008 year. A holiday was the main travel reason for 1.157 million visitors to New Zealand in the April 2009 year, down 56,900 (5 percent) from the previous year. Another 747,600 arrived to visit friends and relatives (up 20,600 or 3 percent), and 242,000 arrived for business (down 25,700 or 10 percent).

Annual visitors by source country

There were 992,700 visitor arrivals from Australia in the year ended April 2009, up 26,600 (3 percent) from the April 2008 year. Australia contributed 41 percent of all visitor arrivals to New Zealand in the April 2009 year, up from 28 percent in the year ended April 1997.

More visitors also came from Fiji (up 4,200 or 21 percent), France (up 2,300 or 12 percent), French Polynesia (up 2,200 or 14 percent), Singapore (up 2,200 or 8 percent), and Germany (up 2,000 or 3 percent) in the April 2009 year.

Fewer visitors came from the United Kingdom (down 27,200 or 9 percent), the United States (down 22,400 or 10 percent), Korea (down 22,200 or 25 percent), Japan (down 19,900 or 17 percent), and China (down 12,000 or 10 percent). After Australia, these five countries are New Zealand's largest sources of visitors.

Note: Detailed visitor data will be available in the April 2009 edition of International Visitor Arrivals to New Zealand, which can be ordered on the International visitor arrivals subscription page on the Statistics NZ website.

New Zealand-resident departures

Monthly resident departures

New Zealand residents departed on 162,400 short-term overseas trips in April 2009, down 1,900 (1 percent) from the 164,300 departures in April 2008. April 2009 is the sixth consecutive month in which New Zealand-resident departures were lower than for the same month of the previous year.

In April 2009, there were fewer trips to Fiji (down 1,500 or 21 percent), China (down 1,100 or 20 percent), and Japan (down 900 or 33 percent). In contrast, more residents departed to Australia (up 2,900 or 4 percent), Samoa (up 900 or 34 percent), and India (up 800 or 62 percent).

The estimated average number of New Zealand residents who were temporarily overseas during April 2009 was 93,800 per day, up 4 percent from the average of 90,300 in April 2008. This estimate is calculated from the date of departure and intended length of absence of sampled resident departures. The average intended absence of residents who departed in April 2009 was 20 days, up from 19 days in April 2008. The median was 10 days, unchanged from April 2008.

Annual resident departures

Short-term departures of New Zealand residents in the April 2009 year numbered 1.940 million, down 57,100 (3 percent) from the April 2008 year.

Trips to Australia (948,100), the most popular destination, were down 27,400 (3 percent) from the previous year. There were fewer trips to France in the April 2009 year (down 6,000 or 30 percent), largely due to the number of trips in the April 2008 year being boosted by the Rugby World Cup (held in September and October 2007).

There were also fewer trips to the United Kingdom (down 4,500 or 5 percent), Fiji (down 3,800 or 4 percent), China (down 3,400 or 6 percent), New Caledonia (down 3,300 or 29 percent), Singapore (down 2,800 or 18 percent), and Thailand (down 2,200 or 7 percent). There were more trips to Samoa (up 2,700 or 7 percent) and India (up 2,200 or 8 percent).

A holiday was the main travel reason for 799,600 New Zealand residents who departed in the April 2009 year, down 41,000 (5 percent) from the previous year. Another 643,300 were departing to visit friends and relatives (up 15,900 or 3 percent). Departures for business purposes (266,800) were down 24,800 (9 percent) from the year ended April 2008.

Note: Provisional international travel statistics, including weekly and four-weekly resident departure data, are available on the Statistics NZ website. 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 400 in April 2009, compared with a net PLT outflow of 1,300 in April 2008. The increase was mainly due to 1,600 fewer PLT departures, including 1,300 fewer departures to Australia. There were also 300 more PLT arrivals of New Zealand citizens, while arrivals of non-New Zealand citizens decreased by 100.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, PLT arrivals exceeded PLT departures by 2,200 in April 2009, up from 1,700 in March 2009 and 1,600 in February 2009. The April 2009 seasonally adjusted figure for net PLT migration is the highest since January 2004 (2,500). The equivalent figures for the last three months are all well above the average of 400 recorded for the 25-month period from January 2007–2009.

In April 2009, there were net inflows of migrants from India (400) and the Philippines (300). There was a net outflow of 1,600 PLT migrants to Australia, down from the outflows of 3,200 in April 2008 and 2,500 in April 2007.

Annual PLT migration

In the year ended April 2009, there were 89,000 PLT arrivals, up 5,000 (6 percent) from the April 2008 year. Over the same period, there were 79,800 PLT departures, up 500 (less than 1 percent). As a result, net PLT migration was 9,200 in the April 2009 year, up from 4,700 in the April 2008 year.

The net PLT migration gain of 9,200 in the year ended April 2009 is below the annual average of 11,400 for the December years from 1990–2008. Net PLT migration varied substantially within this 19-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 in the February 2001 year.

Annual PLT migration by country

In the year ended April 2009, there were net PLT inflows from the United Kingdom (8,600), India (6,000), the Philippines (3,500), China (3,200), Fiji (3,100), and South Africa (2,600).

The net PLT outflow to Australia was 32,000 in the April 2009 year. While this was above the net outflow of 30,600 in the April 2008 year, it was down from the record net outflows of 35,400 in both the December 2008 and January 2009 years. The latest net outflow resulted from 45,300 PLT departures to Australia, partly offset by 13,300 PLT arrivals from Australia. About 90 percent of the PLT departures to Australia were New Zealand citizens (40,500). Of the PLT arrivals from Australia, almost two-thirds were New Zealand citizens (8,600), similar to levels observed over the past decade.

Annual PLT migration by citizenship

A net inflow of 41,300 non-New Zealand citizens and a net outflow of 32,100 New Zealand citizens were recorded in the year ended April 2009. The majority of the net outflow of New Zealand citizens was to Australia (31,900), followed by the United Arab Emirates (500) and Canada (400).

PLT arrivals of New Zealand citizens numbered 24,500 in the April 2009 year, just above the average of 23,400 recorded for the 1979–2008 December years. Arrivals of New Zealand citizens tend to show little variation year-to-year, and the variation that does occur often follows trends in New Zealand citizen departures a few years earlier. The highest number of New Zealand citizen arrivals was 29,600 in the March 1991 year, which followed a peak in New Zealand citizen departures in 1989. More recently, New Zealand citizen arrivals peaked at 27,800 in the October 2003 year, following a peak in New Zealand citizen departures in 2001.

PLT departures of New Zealand citizens have shown much more annual variation than arrivals of New Zealand citizens. The highest number of New Zealand citizen departures was 64,300 in the October 1979 year, but by the January 1984 year this had decreased to a low of 24,400. There were 56,600 PLT departures of New Zealand citizens in the April 2009 year, down 800 from the previous year.

PLT arrivals of non-New Zealand citizens were less than 30,000 a year between 1979 and 1992, then doubled to reach a peak of 58,800 in the July 1996 year. Another peak, of 72,800, was reached in the February 2003 year. The changes in non-New Zealand citizen arrivals reflect changes in arrivals of temporary workers (including working holidaymakers) and overseas students staying for 12 months or more, as well as arrivals for residence. Non-New Zealand citizen arrivals have again been increasing since 2005, with 64,500 in the April 2009 year (up 3,400 from the April 2008 year).

PLT departures of non-New Zealand citizens have generally been increasing since 1984, corresponding with the general increase in non-New Zealand citizen arrivals. There were 23,200 PLT departures of non-New Zealand citizens in the April 2009 year, up 1,300 from the April 2008 year.

Annual PLT migration by permit type

In the April 2009 year, 28,500 PLT arrivals were Australian or New Zealand citizens who did not require a permit to remain in New Zealand. Of PLT arrivals who did require a permit, 23,900 arrived on work permits, 16,300 arrived on student permits, 14,400 arrived on residence permits, and 5,300 arrived on visitor permits. Compared with the April 2008 year, there were more PLT arrivals on student permits (up 3,100) and work permits (up 1,700), but fewer arrivals on residence permits (down 900). The majority of residence approvals in recent years have been granted onshore, to people who arrived on other permit types.

Recent international travel and migration articles

Statistics NZ has recently released a number of articles on international travel and migration topics. These can be accessed on the International travel and migration articles page of the Statistics NZ website. The most recent releases are:

Free online database

A large number of international travel and migration tables are available through Statistics NZ's Infoshare database (www.stats.govt.nz/infoshare ), a free-of-charge online tool that provides access to a range of time-series data. The international travel and migration subject can be found under Tourism on the Browse page of the database.

The international travel and migration tables have recently been developed to replace the external migration tables (available under Population on the Browse page). Statistics NZ is developing a communication plan to ensure users have adequate information and time to transition from the external migration subject to the international travel and migration subject, before the former becomes unavailable later this year.

Seasonally adjusted and trend series

Statistics NZ has made a number of changes to seasonally adjusted international travel and migration series in recent months.

An improved seasonal adjustment process for monthly series was introduced in March 2009. Additional adjustments are now included for the effect of the number and type of trading days in the month (as more people generally arrive and depart on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), and for holiday periods which have important effects on travel but in different months each year (eg Easter can be in March or April). The addition of these adjustments results in less volatile seasonally adjusted series, and has allowed associated trend series to be published.

In April 2009, quarterly seasonally adjusted international travel and migration series were introduced. The quarterly series are adjusted independently of the adjustments made to the monthly series. The actual monthly figures are summed into quarters and then seasonally adjusted, which gives slightly different results to summing the monthly seasonally adjusted figures.

More detail about the seasonal adjustment process is in the technical notes of this release.

Tourism and migration tables

As previously advised, Statistics NZ will no longer publish the annual tourism and migration tables produced since 2000. The detailed international travel and migration data is now freely available through the Infoshare database.

In addition to data from the international travel and migration dataset, the following data were included in the tables, with alternative sources noted:

• forecasts of visitor arrivals, available on the Ministry of Tourism's research website
• residence approvals, work permits and student permits, available on the Immigration New Zealand statistics webpage
• citizenship approvals, available in the New Zealand Official Yearbook which is published every second year by Statistics NZ
• the birthplace of New Zealand residents, and internal migration within New Zealand, both sourced from Statistics NZ's 2006 Census of Population and Dwellings
• the projected population of New Zealand, from Statistics NZ's national population projections.

 

For technical information contact:
Nick Thomson or Ian Richards
Christchurch 03 964 8700
Email: demography@stats.govt.nz

Next release ...

International Travel and Migration: May 2009 will be released on 22 June 2009.