New Zealand's tourism market has picked up the pace as arrivals improve during the month of July, according to new data.
Tourism arrivals picked up strongly in July after two lacklustre months. Tourism arrivals rose 2.6 percent in July, after declines of 0.3 percent and 2.2 percent in May and June, all on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Arrivals in July 2025 were 6.6 percent higher than July 2024, with July 2025 arrivals amounting to 93 percent of pre-pandemic levels, the strongest level of recovery since January 2025.
Growth in arrivals was driven by growth from Australia. Arrivals from Australia rose 16 percent pa in July, supplemented by 22 percent pa and 12 percent pa growth from Taiwan and Japan, respectively. Arrivals from China fell 14 percent pa, and United States arrivals fell 8.4 percent.
Departures of NZ tourists fell 3.7 percent in July 2025 from June, dragging the departures down to 85 percent of pre-pandemic levels, their lowest since July 2023. July 2025 was also the first month since July 2023 where the recovery of departures lagged the recovery of arrivals (93 percent).
After two months of stalling, July marks a return to recovery of international visitor arrivals to New Zealand, down almost entirely to strength in Australian arrivals. Material growth in arrivals was recorded at all airports except Auckland. Auckland arrivals notched up just 0.2 percent pa in July, compared to 28 percent pa at Christchurch, 16 percent at Wellington and 12 percent at Queenstown.
Although new routes from Hamilton and Dunedin to Australia opened recently, the bulk of the increase in Australian arrivals came through New Zealand’s larger airports. Foreign visitors made up 27 percent of arrivals to Dunedin, and 42 percent of arrivals to Hamilton, in July 2025, showing that these routes supported more outbound tourism than inbound tourism in July.
Most of Australia’s states have school holidays in July, with Queensland’s holidays starting on 28 June this year compared to 22 June 2024. This timing might have boosted the July result a little, but Australian arrivals over June and July combined were still up 9.1 percent from last year, representing the best result since summer.
Looking beyond strong arrivals from New Zealand's largest market, it’s concerning to see its second and third-largest markets, the United States and China, each record two consecutive months of annual decline. Further weakness in these markets would be likely to stall overall growth in arrivals.
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