Visitor arrivals
Monthly visitor arrivals
Short-term overseas visitor arrivals to New Zealand numbered 162,500 in August 2008, a decrease of 2,300 (1 percent) from August 2007 (164,800).
The estimated average number of visitors in New Zealand per day in August 2008 was 107,800, up 4 percent from the average of 104,000 in August 2007. Estimated numbers of visitors in the country are calculated from the date of arrival and intended length of stay of sampled visitor arrivals. The average intended stay of visitors who arrived in August 2008 was 18 days, up from 17 days in August 2007, and the median (half stay shorter, and half stay longer, than this duration) was 7 days.
Annual visitor arrivals
During the August 2008 year, there were 2.480 million visitor arrivals, up 7,300 (less than 1 percent) from the August 2007 year. A holiday was the main travel reason for 1.205 million visitor arrivals to New Zealand in the August 2008 year, down 15,900 (1 percent) from the previous year. Another 735,400 arrived to visit friends and relatives (up 30,100 or 4 percent), and 264,200 arrived for business (down 8,700 or 3 percent).
Note: Provisional international travel statistics, including weekly and four-weekly visitor arrival data, are available on the Statistics NZ website. This data is updated each week with the most recently available information on visitor arrivals from 10 major source countries.
Visitors by source country
In August 2008, there were fewer visitors from China (down 2,600 or 29 percent) when compared with August 2007. There were 1,600 fewer holidaymakers and 900 fewer business travellers. Both of these categories of visitor from China have decreased in the last three months. The earthquake that occurred in May and the Olympic Games in August may have contributed to the decline.
For the month of August, there were also fewer visitors from the United Kingdom (down 900 or 7 percent), Japan (down 800 or 8 percent) and the United States (down 600 or 6 percent) when compared with August 2007. More visitors arrived from Australia (up 1,000 or 1 percent) and Korea (up 600 or 10 percent). This was the first increase from Korea, compared with the same month of the previous year, since April 2007..
In the year ended August 2008, there were more visitors from Oceania (up 38,800 or 4 percent) and the Americas (up 8,300 or 3 percent) compared with the August 2007 year. Fewer visitors arrived from Asia (down 36,200 or 7 percent) and Europe (down 8,200 or 2 percent).
Australia (up 31,700 or 3 percent) provided the largest increase in visitor arrivals in the August 2008 year. There were also increases in visitor arrivals from Canada (up 5,600 or 12 percent), South Africa (up 4,100 or 20 percent), India (up 2,200 or 11 percent) and China (up 2,100 or 2 percent).
Decreases in visitor arrivals were recorded for Korea (down 20,800 or 19 percent), the United Kingdom (down 12,200 or 4 percent), Japan (down 11,300 or 9 percent), and Taiwan (down 6,300 or 23 percent) in the August 2008 year.
Visitor arrivals from Korea, Japan and Taiwan in the August 2008 year were well below previous annual highs. The 88,800 visitor arrivals from Korea were down from the peaks of 130,700 in the April 1997 year (before the Asian financial crisis), and 118,400 in the May 2004 year. Similarly, the 114,000 visitor arrivals from Japan were down from the peak of 174,800 in the January 2003 year. The 21,000 visitor arrivals from Taiwan were less than one-third of the 66,000 visitor arrivals from that country in the October 1995 year.
Note: Detailed visitor data will be available in the August 2008 edition of International Visitor Arrivals to New Zealand, which can be ordered on the International visitor arrivals subscription page on the Statistics NZ website.
New Zealand-resident departures
Monthly resident departures
New Zealand residents departed on 176,300 short-term overseas trips in August 2008, down 1,600 (1 percent) from the 177,900 departures in August 2007.
In August 2008, there were more trips to Fiji (up 1,700 or 15 percent), Canada (up 900 or 53 percent), Viet Nam (up 800 or 145 percent), India (up 500 or 38 percent) and the United States (up 500 or 6 percent).
There were fewer trips by New Zealand residents to Australia (down 7,100 or 8 percent) and Thailand (down 600 or 19 percent).
The estimated average number of New Zealand residents who were temporarily overseas during August 2008 was 119,700 per day, up 2 percent from the average of 117,100 in August 2007. Estimates of the number of residents overseas are calculated from the date of departure and intended length of absence of sampled resident departures. The average intended absence of residents who departed in August 2008 was 18 days, and the median was 10 days.
Annual resident departures
There were 1.992 million resident departures in the August 2008 year, up 55,600 (3 percent) from the August 2007 year. There were more resident departures to Asia (up 14,500 or 6 percent), the Americas (up 9,900 or 8 percent), Europe (up 9,700 or 6 percent) and Oceania (up 8,700 or 1 percent).
By country, there were more trips to France (up 7,600 or 60 percent) and to China (up 5,200 or 9 percent) in the August 2008 year. Trips to Australia (960,100), the most popular destination, were down 6,700 (1 percent) from the previous year.
A holiday was the main travel reason for 839,100 New Zealand residents who departed in the August 2008 year, up 26,300 (3 percent) from the previous year. Another 628,100 were departing to visit friends and relatives (up 21,300 or 4 percent). Departures for business purposes (287,900) were down 1,400 (less than 1 percent) from the year ended August 2007.
Note: Provisional international travel statistics, including weekly and four-weekly resident departure data, are available on the Statistics NZ website. This data is updated each week with the most recently available information on resident departures to 10 major destination countries.
Permanent and long-term migration
Definition
Permanent and long-term (PLT) arrivals include people who arrive in New Zealand intending to stay for a period of 12 months or more (or permanently), plus New Zealand residents returning after an absence of 12 months or more. Included in the former group are people with New Zealand residency, as well as students and holders of work permits. PLT departures include New Zealand residents departing for an intended period of 12 months or more (or permanently), plus overseas visitors departing New Zealand after a stay of 12 months or more.
Monthly PLT migration
PLT arrivals exceeded departures by 500 in August 2008, compared with a net PLT inflow of 700 in August 2007. There were almost 900 more PLT departures, partly offset by over 600 PLT arrivals.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, there was a net PLT inflow of 400 in August 2008. The net PLT series averaged 500 between January 2007 and July 2008.
In August 2008, there were net inflows of migrants from the United Kingdom (800), the Philippines (500), India (400), Fiji, China and South Africa (each 300), and Germany (200). Compared with August 2007, net PLT migration increased from all of these countries, led by increases of 200 from both China and India. There was a net outflow of 2,900 PLT migrants to Australia in August 2008, up from the outflow of 1,900 in August 2007.
Annual PLT migration
In the year ended August 2008, there were 86,700 PLT arrivals, up 3,700 (5 percent) from the August 2007 year. Over the same period, there were 81,800 PLT departures, up 7,500 (10 percent). As a result, net PLT migration was 4,900 in the August 2008 year, down from 8,700 in the August 2007 year. The latest figure is below the July 2008 year level of 5,200 but above the recent low of 4,600 in the February 2008 year.
The net PLT migration gain of 4,900 in the year ended August 2008 is below the annual average of 11,800 recorded for the December years from 1990–2007. Net PLT migration varied substantially within this 18-year period. The net gain peaked at 30,200 in the April 1996 year and again at 42,500 in the May 2003 year. Net outflows were generally experienced during 1998–2001, with the highest being a net loss of 13,200 people in the February 2001 year.
Annual PLT migration by citizenship
A net inflow of 40,800 non-New Zealand citizens and a net outflow of 35,900 New Zealand citizens were recorded in the year ended August 2008. The majority of the net outflow of New Zealand citizens was to Australia (33,400), followed by the United Arab Emirates (500), Canada (400) and the United Kingdom (300).
Compared with the August 2007 year, PLT arrivals of non-New Zealand citizens were up 3,700 and PLT arrivals of New Zealand citizens were up 100. There were 5,800 more PLT departures of New Zealand citizens and 1,800 more PLT departures of non-New Zealand citizens. Changes in non-New Zealand citizen departures are often related to changes in non-New Zealand citizen arrivals a few years earlier. Similarly, changes in New Zealand citizen arrivals are often related to changes in New Zealand citizen departures a few years earlier.
Annual PLT migration by country
In the year ended August 2008, there was a net inflow of 7,600 migrants from the United Kingdom, down from 8,800 in the August 2007 year. In contrast, the net inflow of 4,800 from India was up from 3,100 in the August 2007 year and 2,100 in the August 2006 year. There were also net PLT inflows from the Philippines (3,700), Fiji (2,800), and South Africa and China (each 2,600) in the August 2008 year.
The net PLT outflow to Australia was 33,300 in the August 2008 year, compared with 25,900 in the August 2007 year. This is the highest annual net outflow to Australia since the February 1989 year (33,600). There were earlier peaks in the January 1989 year (33,700) and the December 1979 year (33,400).
The net outflow to Australia was spread across both age and occupation groups. Migrants aged 15–29 years accounted for 40 percent (13,300) of the net outflow to Australia in the August 2008 year, while the 0–14-year age group (7,600) and 30–44-year age group (7,700) both contributed 23 percent of the outflow. A further 13 percent (4,300) were aged 45–59 years, and the remaining 1 percent (400) were aged 60 years and over.
Net outflows to Australia were recorded in each broad occupation group, led by service and sales workers and professionals (each 2,200), and trades workers (2,100). There was also a net outflow to Australia of 13,500 people without an occupation, of which most were children or students.
Split PLT data
Statistics NZ began separately identifying permanent arrivals from long-term arrivals in July 2003 (departing migrants are also separately identified). Within the long-term group, a further distinction is made between overseas visitors coming to stay in New Zealand for 12 months or more (long-term overseas visitors), and New Zealand residents returning after an overseas stay of 12 months or more (long-term New Zealand residents).
The classification of a person as a permanent or long-term migrant depends on that person's responses to the questions on the arrival and departure cards. Both cards require completion of one of two sections, depending on whether or not the person feels that they live or have lived in New Zealand. The choice of which section to complete is up to the individual, and the answer may result in a person being misclassified – usually as a permanent migrant instead of a long-term migrant.
Of the 7,300 PLT arrivals in August 2008, there were 2,400 permanent migrants and 3,600 long-term visitors. A further 1,300 arrivals were returning long-term New Zealand residents.
INFOS EMI series redevelopment
Statistics NZ has recently made changes to the INFOS External Migration (EMI) group. Some discontinued and duplicated families are no longer published, the titles of all families have been modified, and footnotes have been added. Series identifiers have not changed. More details are available on the INFOS – database changes webpage.
A project is also underway to replace the EMI group with a new group called International Travel and Migration (ITM). The first ITM families are now available, containing data by passenger type, by country and travel purpose, and by country and citizenship. More detailed series will be added progressively. Further information about the redevelopment can be obtained from the contacts below.
For technical information contact:
Nick Thomson or Ian Richards
Christchurch 03 964 8700
Email: demography@stats.govt.nz
Next release ...
International Travel and Migration: September 2008 will be released on 22 October 2008.