Chinese New Year lifts New Zealand's visitor arrivals

WELLINGTON, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese New Year boosted the number of visitor arrivals to New Zealand from China in February 2024, with the highest number of monthly Chinese visitor arrivals since pre-pandemic January 2020, according to the statistics department Stats NZ on Monday.

There were 37,900 visitor arrivals from China in February 2024, an increase of 33,700 from February 2023. This is the highest number of monthly visitor arrivals from China since 50,300 in January 2020, shortly before pandemic-related travel restrictions were introduced worldwide, Stats NZ said.

"Monthly arrivals from China typically peak in January or February each year, depending on the timing of Chinese New Year," Stats NZ population indicators manager Tehseen Islam said.

China was the third largest source of overseas visitors to New Zealand in February 2024, behind Australia and the United States, Islam said.

Overall, there were 362,800 visitor arrivals in February 2024, an increase of 94,100 from February 2023, he said, adding that about one-third of this increase was attributable to visitors from China.

New Zealand also saw a record February for New Zealanders travelling. There were 204,500 New Zealand-resident travelers who arrived back from short-term overseas trips in February 2024, which was a record for any February month and the first to exceed 200,000, Stats NZ said.

The previous record for a February month was 190,600 in February 2019, it said, adding that the record number of New Zealand-resident arrivals for any month was 345,100 in July 2018.

In February 2024, Australia was the top destination for New Zealand-resident travelers, followed by China, India, the United States and Fiji, Islam said.