International tourism spend powers up

The Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) for the year ended March 2024 has been released. While it comes out very late for a year-end March 2024 report, it provides a useful overview of tourism data that can be used to understand its contribution to the economy.

There has been a significant increase in international visitor expenditure – but a drop in domestic.

Total tourism spend was $44.4 billion, up 14.6% from 2023.

International visitors contributed $16.9 billion to the economy, up almost 60% and getting close to 2019 levels ($17.2 billion).

International visitors contributed $1.7 billion in GST spend direct to the Crown.

International tourism makes up 17.2% of New Zealand’s exports.

The number of international visitors was 3,183,376, up 44.8%.

By purpose of visit:

• holiday visitors increased by 68.6%
• visiting friends and relatives increased by 17%
• conferences and conventions increased 83.4%
• business travel increased by 27.7%
• and education visitors increased by 89.5%

By country of arrival:

• Australia – up 14.8%
• China – up 535.1%
• United States of America – up 65.4%
• United Kingdom – up 8.2%
• Germany – up 37.9%
• Japan – up 127.1%

Tourism’s direct and indirect value added to GDP was $27.7 billion.

Tourism directly employs 182,727 people.

Domestic spend decreased 2.5%, down to $27.5 billion.

See more data, and delve into the spreadsheets, on the Stats NZ website.