This release includes total results from the International Visitors Survey (IVS) for year-end December 2023 (March, June, September and December quarters 2023) and for the December 2023 quarter.
Top-line results can be found on MBIE’s Tourism Evidence and Insights Centre (TEIC).
Microdata is also published on the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE’s) website.
International Visitory Survey data
Results on the TEIC for the December quarter 2023 are presented for Australia, USA, Rest of World and Total (all countries). Quarterly level statistics have a higher margin of error than annual level statistics due to the smaller sample size resulting from a shorter survey period. Consistent with an increase in international visitor arrivals, the total sample size for the December quarter is higher than for the September quarter (July to September 2023) enabling results for the USA to be added. Results on the TEIC for the September quarter are presented for Australia, Rest of World and Total (all countries). For year ending September 2023, the larger sample size for annual data means results are available for Total, Australia, UK, USA, Rest of Europe, Rest of Asia, Germany, Canada, and Rest of World.
For year end December 2023, the larger sample size for annual data means results are available for Total, Australia, UK, USA, Rest of Europe, Asia, Germany, Canada, and Rest of World.
More information on data quality, including sample sizes, response rates and margin of errors, can be found here.
Survey quality for the International Visitor Survey
All spend figures that are compared with 2022 and 2019 are adjusted for inflation using Stats NZ CPI to account for how much of the extra spending by tourists is being driven by higher prices.
International visitors contributed $9.9 billion to New Zealand’s economy – Spend from all international visitors totalled $9.9 billion for year-end December 2023.
Visitor numbers returned to 76% of pre-pandemic levels while visitor spend up to 71% of pre-pandemic levels – This is due to a range of factors, including a higher proportion of visitors staying with friends and family, and large flows of Australian visitors, who tend to spend less.
International visitor spend is recovering – Visitor spend increased from 67% of pre-pandemic levels for year-end September 2023 to 71% of pre-pandemic levels for year-end December 2023
International tourism was the second highest export earner – When compared to New Zealand’s top exports, international visitor spend is second, behind milk powder, butter, and cheese ($19.4 billion), followed by meat and edible offal ($8.8 billion).
Overseas merchandise trade December 2023 [XLSX]
Visitors from Germany spent the most overall – The highest median spend per visitor is from Germany at $5,980 (83% of pre-pandemic levels). Visitors from Rest of Europe had the second highest median spend at $4,340 (86% of 2019 levels). Australians spent the least per visitor at $2,030 (5% higher than 2019 levels). A higher median spend per visitor generally correlates with the length of visit – the longer the visit the greater the overall spend per visitor.
Visitors from the US had the highest daily spend – The median daily spend for visitors from the US is the highest at $353 (86% of pre-pandemic levels) followed by Australian visitors at $285 (89% of 2019 levels). Despite having the third highest median spend per visitor, the UK had the lowest median daily spend at $164 (75% of 2019 levels).
Visitors are staying for less time compared with 2019 – Median length of stay for all visitors was 9.5 days compared with 12 days in 2019. One reason is the proportion of visitors from Australia remains higher than 2019 levels and Australian visitors tend to spend less time in New Zealand compared with other visitors.
Visitors from Germany stayed longer and spent more per visit – Visitors from Germany had the longest median length of stay at 30 days, followed by the Rest of Europe at 23 days.
Visitors spent most on accommodation – Spend on accommodation by all visitors increased 13% from $2.3 billion to $2.6 billion. Spend on eating out also increased 7% from $1.4 billion to $1.5 billion.
Visitors from Australia spent the most on accommodation – Spend on accommodation by visitors from Australia increased 6% from $894.8 million to $952.7 million. Visitors from Canada spent the least on accommodation ($57.1 million), an increase of 2% from $55.9 million.
Visitors from Australia spent the most on eating out – Visitors from Australia spent $579.5 million on eating out, an increase of 4%. Visitors from Canada spent the least ($32.7 million), an increase of 5%, up from $31.1 million.
All spend figures that are compared with 2022 and 2019 are adjusted for inflation using Stats NZ CPI to account for how much of the extra spending by tourists is being driven by higher prices.
International visitors brought $2.7 billion into New Zealand – Spend from all international visitors totalled $2.7 billion in the December quarter 2023, an increase of 43% compared to the December quarter 2022 in which spend totalled $1.8 billion. The increase in spend is greater than the 25% increase in visitor arrivals in the December 2023 quarter compared with the same quarter in 2022. Australian visitors remain the largest single market, spending $819 million.
When adjusted for inflation, the median spend per visitor decreased – While overall visitor spend increased, when adjusted for inflation, median spend per visitor decreased 7% from the December quarter 2022 to $2,388 in the December quarter 2023. The non-adjusted figure is $2,500. One reason is because the amount spent by higher spending visitors increased, whereas the amount spent by other visitors stayed the same.
Median length of stay remains steady – 9 days when compared with the December quarter 2022.
International tourism was the second highest export – When compared to New Zealand’s top exports for the December quarter, international visitor spend is second, behind milk powder, butter, and cheese ($5.5 billion), followed by meat and edible offal ($2.0 billion).
Visitors spent most on accommodation followed by eating out – Visitors spent $723.1 million on accommodation, an increase of 45% from December 2022 quarter. The most popular accommodation was hotels with 35% of visitors staying at least one night in a hotel, followed by staying with family or friends (31%), and online rental accommodation (28%).
Net promoter score remains steady – The net promoter score (NPS) measures the net effect of visitors’ likelihood to recommend New Zealand as a holiday destination to others. For the December quarter, visitors from the USA, and visitors here on holiday, had the highest NPS at 78 points and 68 points respectively. For visitors overall, the NPS remained unchanged from last quarter at 64 points.
Net promoter score is calculated by subtracting the proportion of detractors (visitors unlikely to recommend NZ as a holiday destination) from the proportion of promoters (those highly likely to). This measure ranges from -100 to 100, with a score higher than 50 typically meaning strong customer loyalty.
Differences between international visitor spend for year-end December 2023 and year-end December 2019 levels are due to the following reasons:
The tourism data release calendar on the MBIE website has release dates to June 2024.