New Zealand Tourism Statistics

Page last updated: 14 May 2020

How many tourists visit New Zealand each year?

Over 3.8 million tourists and other travellers visited New Zealand for the year ending December 2019.1
  • International tourism saw an increase of 0.7% over the previous year.
Image credit: Camper Champ

New Zealand Tourism Statistics 2020

January 2020

In January 2020 tourism saw a 2.9% increase in international visitation when compared with the previous year.
  • In January 2020 approximately 410,778 international visitors travelled to New Zealand.
  • Visitors in January were up 2.9% when compared with the 399,346 of January 2019.

February 2020 and the Impact of Coronavirus

Tourism in February saw a significant decrease in international visitation due to the effects of coronavirus.
  • In February 2020 approximately 372,745 international visitors travelled to New Zealand.
  • International visitors were down 10.8% when compared to 417,934 visitors in 2019.
  • Tourism from Asia was Significantly affected with a 44.6% decrease in visitors arriving from Asian countries.

March 2020 and Further Travel Restrictions

  • On March 19th 2020, New Zealand closed its borders to almost all international travel.
  • On March 25th New Zealand declared a state of emergency and entered level 4 lockdown restrictions, further restricting travel.
  • International arrivals to New Zealand were down 53.6% when compared with March 2019 (with 175,521 in March 2020 and 378,270 in March 2019).

Impact of the Travel Ban on Chinese Visitors

  • In February 2020 visitors arriving from China decreased by 90.2% compared to the previous year (5004 arrivals in February 2020 vs 50,861 visitors in February 2019).
  • The significant drop was the result of a coronavirus-related travel ban implemented by the New Zealand government on 2 February for people travelling from mainland China.
  • January/February is typically the peak travel period for Chinese visitors to NZ.

    New Zealand Inbound Travel Statistics for 2019

    Who visited New Zealand in 2019?

    • The highest number of visitors came from Australia at over 1.5m.
    • Australia continues to be the top tourist source for New Zealand each year.
    Image credit: Camper Champ

    How much did international tourists spend in New Zealand in 2019?

    • International visitors spent over $11.4B in the year ending december 2019.2
    • Australians were the top spenders at over $2.7B alone.
    Image credit: Camper Champ

    How many tourists visit Auckland each Year?

    • Over 2,113,143 tourists and other travellers visited Auckland in the year ending December 2018.3

    How many tourists visit Wellington each year?

    • Over 761,203 tourists and other travellers visited wellington in the year ending December 2018.

    How many tourists visit Queenstown each year?

    • Over 1,306,572 tourists and other travellers visited Queenstown in the year ending December 2018.

    How many tourists visit Christchurch each year?

    • 1,073,699 tourists and other travellers visited wellington in the year ending December 2018.

    New Zealand Outbound Tourism Statistics for 2019

    Where did New Zealanders visit in 2019?

    • New Zealanders made over 3.1M international trips in the year ending December 2019.4
    • Australia was the top destination for New Zealand tourists by a wide margin.
    Image credit: Camper Champ

    Travel Statistics Resources

    Global Statistics

    References

    1. Stats NZ: International Travel December 2019 ↩
    2. MBIE: International Visitor Survey ↩
    3. MBIE: International Visitor Survey↩
    4. Stats NZ: International Travel December 2019