Kiwi tourists boost total travel spend

Kiwis taking time out to explore the highways and byways of their own backyard helped push up tourist spending to $17 billion last year.

Though growth in international spending dropped 2.4 per cent to $7.4 billion in the year to March 2004, spending by domestic tourists rose 2.6 per cent to $9.8 billion compared to the previous year.

Overall, spending from both groups rose a slim 0.4 per cent to $17.2 billion, but visitor numbers were up 4.9 per cent to 2.16 million, according to the latest Tourism Satellite Account.

The biggest jump in visitor numbers was from Oceania, including Australia, which rose 14 per cent during the period.

Visitor arrivals from Asian countries dropped 10 per cent in the 12 months to March last year. The biggest fall was in numbers from the price-conscious Chinese and Japanese markets, put off by the high Kiwi dollar.

According to the satellite account, the $7.4 billion spent by overseas tourists meant tourism overtook dairy at $5.7 billion, meat at $4.3 billion and forestry at $3 billion as an export earner.

The satellite account takes in both international and domestic tourist spending and money spent on airfares, and is the most comprehensive record of tourism spending each year.

AdvertisementAdvertisementTourism Ministry research manager Bruce Bassett sounded a note of warning about the figures, saying they pre-dated the cheap trans-Tasman airfares to some extent and anecdotal evidence was that domestic tourist spending could soften as more New Zealanders head offshore.

According to the satellite account, tourism contributed $6.2 billion, or 9.4 per cent, of New Zealand's gross domestic product in the year to March 2004. A further $5.8 billion was spent in flow-on sectors such as transport, accommodation and restaurant meals. It is estimated that tourism directly employs almost 103,000 people.

Spending on accommodation rose 5 per cent to $1.5 billion, food and drink was up by 1.4 per cent and transport rose 3.7 per cent, but growth in all areas slowed.

The worst-hit sector was airfares, which dropped almost 4 per cent to $3.2 billion.

Tourism Minister Mark Burton said the figures showed the importance of the tourism industry to New Zealand.

Last year, the Government's marketing arm Tourism New Zealand spent about $25 million on advertising New Zealand offshore through its 100% Pure New Zealand campaign.

Source: SUE ALLEN - http://www.stuff.co.nz/