The number of Australian and American travelling to New Zealand soared in July, as opposed to the previous years that show a quiet July, although there were less Asian tourists travelling to the country. Data agency Stats NZ showed that there was a 2% rise from June, as around 255,858 visitors came to New Zealand for a short period of time in July.

The statistics highlighted that 123,874 visitors were Australian whereas 17,213 were American, increasing by 1.5% and 6.2% respectively YoY. Additionally, there was a 3.4% increase in British tourists and a 3.3% drop in the number of Chinese travellers. 2019 was coined as the New Zealand-China Year of Tourism. 

Tehseen Islam, population indicators manager explained, ‘Visitor arrivals from Asia have been falling for six months in a row when compared with the corresponding month last year.’ This data took the number of annual visitors up by 2.8% reaching 3.89 million visitors within the year ending July 31st. 

The data agency also estimates that a net of 6,100 people migrated to the country in July, a 1,230 net increase YoY. Stats NZ used to calculate migration differently, as it used to look at the travellers’ arrival and departure cards.