Three Million Reasons to Celebrate Tourism’s Value to New Zealand

Over three million visitors have travelled to New Zealand in the year ending July 2015, according to data released by Statistics New Zealand.

The 7.3 % per cent increase of visitor numbers is good news for New Zealanders according to Tourism New Zealand’s Chief Executive Kevin Bowler.

“International visitor spend is distributed widely across the economy; it’s not just accommodation or tourism activities that benefit,” said Kevin Bowler, chief executive Tourism New Zealand.

Approximately 8.3% per cent of all employment in New Zealand is tourism related.

“We are also starting to see more visitors arriving outside of the traditional summer period and a wider regional distribution of visitor spending – all positive signs for the long-term growth of the industry and New Zealand’s regions,” said Bowler.

New Zealand’s top six source markets are Australia (1.29 million visitors/year), China (315,248 visitors/year), the UK, USA, Germany and Japan.

Most of the time New Zealand is associated with wildlife and adventure according to the Tourism NZ chief executive.

“For the past 15 years we have been playing to these strengths through the 100% Pure New Zealand campaign, during which time annual visitor arrivals have grown from around 1.54 million to where they are today.”

Article Source: Travel Daily News, Theodore Koumelis, September 01, 2015.

Image Source: Twitter – New Zealand