More Chinese visitors enter New Zealand: statistics

WELLINGTON, June 12 (Xinhua) -- A total of 225,000 overseas visitors arrived in New Zealand in the April 2024 month, increasing by 3,800 from the April 2023 month, with more Chinese visitors entering the country, the statistics department Stats NZ said on Wednesday.

The number of Chinese visitors was up 10,400 in the April 2024 month, compared with the April 2023 month, Stats NZ said, adding that the number of visitors from Thailand also increased while those from Australia and Britain were down.

The April 2024 number of overseas visitor arrivals was 73 percent of the pre-COVID-19 number of 307,400 in April 2019, it said, adding that the lower percentage partly reflects the timing of Easter in late March 2024 compared to mid-April in 2019.

Of the 225,000 overseas visitor arrivals in April 2024, 45 percent were from Australia, 10 percent were from China, 9 percent were from the United States, 4 percent were from Britain, and 3 percent were from India, statistics show.

New Zealand-resident traveler and overseas visitor weekly arrivals both typically peak around Easter and school holiday periods. The timing of these holidays affects weekly and monthly travel numbers, according to Stats NZ.

Annually, overseas visitor arrivals were 3.19 million in the April 2024 year, increasing by 821,000 from the April 2023 year, with the biggest changes in arrivals from China, which was up 177,000 to 221,000, as well as in arrivals from the United States, Australia, India, South Korea and Japan.

There were 1.02 million border crossings in April 2024, made up of 476,200 arrivals and 544,400 departures. In March 2024 there were 1.13 million border crossings, Stats NZ said.

April 2024 border crossings were 87 percent of the 1.18 million in April 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, it added.