Visitor arrivals to New Zealand in November this year increased 11% year on year and totaled 300,500 trips, according to the latest data of Statistics New Zealand. Arrivals from China showed the highest growth, at 35%, with 9,600 more visitors than the same time last year.
Australia remained the largest visitor source market for New Zealand. In the past year, Australian visitors made 1.32 million trips to New Zealand. Arrivals from China ranked second, at 34,4900. American visitors were the third largest group making a total of 240,000 visits to New Zealand.
Tourism has already become a key industry for New Zealand. Overseas visitors made a record 3.09 million trips to New Zealand in the 12 months up to November, up 9% compared with last year.
New Zealand’s GDP grew 0.9% in the third quarter this year, above the government’s forecast of 0.6%. Analysts say that the high volume of foreign visitors gave a major boost to New Zealand’s service sector and helped reduce the effect of fluctuations in the global dairy product prices on the country’s economy to a certain degree.
The influx of Chinese visitors has fueled the growth of New Zealand’s tourism industry and related services such as flights. In September 2015, China Eastern Airlines resumed service from Shanghai to Auckland. In December, Air China launched service between Beijing and Auckland, and China Southern Airlines began a service from Guangzhou to Christchurch on New Zealand’s South Island.(Translation by David)
