Domestic visitor spend stabilises
Last updated:
April 2008
MEDIA STATEMENT
EMBARGOED until: Tuesday 26 September 2006, 1:00pm
View PDF version of Media Statement and Supplementary Tables (PDF 35KB)
New Ministry of Tourism data shows that domestic travellers within New Zealand spent $7.0 billion in the year to March 2006, a decline of 0.4% compared to the same period the previous year.
“The data suggests that the rate of decline in domestic tourism activity has slowed significantly,” says Bruce Bassett, Research Manager, Ministry of Tourism, “and that a new balance is being struck between the number of kiwis heading off-shore at the expense of domestic travel.”
The research shows that spending on overnight trips increased by 5.1% to $4.5 billion even though the number of overnight trips declined by 2.0% to 14.4 million.
The increased spend appears to be primarily driven by higher transport related expenditure that increased by 10.7% to $2.1 billion – a result directly attributed to rising fuel costs.
Day trip spending fell by 8.8% to $2.5 billion. The actual number of day trips fell by 4.9% to 29.7 million.
“The rising price of fuel over the survey period is apparent in the data, increasing the level of expenditure on transportation while the overall expenditure has declined slightly off a reasonably significant fall in total trip activity,” says Mr Bassett.
Mr Bassett added that the recent launch of the AA’s ‘101 Must-Dos for Kiwis’ campaign can only be good news for the domestic tourism sector as it provides a compelling reminder that New Zealand is an outstanding destination for kiwis, just as it is for our international visitors.
The Domestic Travel Survey is a telephone survey of 15,000 New Zealand residents undertaken throughout the year. A range of data and reports from the survey are available on the Ministry of Tourism’s research website – www.tourismresearch.govt.nz.
For further information, contact Markus Landvogt – telephone (04) 474 2683 or email markus.landvogt@tourism.govt.nz.
ENDS
Ministry of Tourism:
www.tourism.govt.nz
www.tourismresearch.govt.nz
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