The Government has welcomed new data showing a healthy growth in international visitor numbers and improved confidence across the tourism industry.
“International tourism, as New Zealand’s second-highest export earner, is a key part of our economic recovery,” Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston said.
“So it is great to see that international visitor arrivals in August were up 7.5 percent from the same time last year. With summer around the corner, we are making steady progress against our goal to return to pre-COVID visitor levels, sitting at 88 percent of December 2019 numbers.”
Upston said more visitors will mean more full tables in restaurants, more bookings in hotels, more people visiting the regions and attractions, and more jobs being created across the country.
The latest International Travel and Migration (ITM) data from Statistics New Zealand shows that of the 230,300 international visitor arrivals in August 2025, 52 percent were from Australia, nine percent were from China, and five percent were from the United States.
There were record arrivals, for an August month, of New Zealand-resident travellers from some destinations, including the Cook Islands (12,700) and Indonesia (12,200).
“These positive statistics reflect what the tourism industry is obviously seeing themselves first hand with a Tourism Industry Association survey also out today showing 86 percent of tourism organisations feeling confident about the year ahead. Up 11 percent on last year’s results,” added Upston.
“We know the benefits a thriving tourism and hospitality sector bring to our economy, supporting local regions and communities. That’s why our Government has been making a series of investments this year to boost demand and position New Zealand as a go-to destination for people considering their next holiday.”
In 2024 there were 1.6 million arrivals to New Zealand by overseas visitors taking a holiday, up 279,000 (21 percent) from 2023.
“A holiday was the main purpose of travel given by just over half of visitor arrivals in 2024,” Drake said.
“The second most popular purpose was visiting friends and relatives, which accounted for one-third of visitor arrivals.”
Just over one million overseas visitor arrivals visited friends and relatives in 2024, up 58,000 (six percent) from 2023.
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