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Business Environment Profiles - New Zealand

International travel to New Zealand

Published: 16 July 2024

Key Metrics

International travel to New Zealand

Total (2025)

4 Million

Annualized Growth 2020-25

0.5 %

Definition of International travel to New Zealand

This report analyses the number of short-term foreign arrivals into New Zealand. This is defined as people who live overseas and intend to stay in New Zealand for less than one year. Reasons for arriving in New Zealand include holidays, visiting friends and relatives, business travel, short-term employment and other reasons such as medical operations and education. The data for this report is sourced from Statistics New Zealand (Tatauranga Aotearoa), and is measured in millions of arrivals per financial year.

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Recent Trends – International travel to New Zealand

IBISWorld forecasts international arrivals to New Zealand to rise by 17.9% in 2024-25, to 3.75 million. Growth remains strong in the current year on the back to positive trends resulting from the boarder reopening post-pandemic. The New Zealand border reopened and self-isolation requirements were dropped, in late February and March 2022 respectively, causing a flurry in inbound international arrivals. Likewise, from 20 October 2022, travellers were no longer required to provide proof of vaccination or COVID-19 tests, bolstering consumers' confidence in travel. International travel has been steadily increasing since, although at a decreasing rate of growth year-on-year.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the largest decrease in the number of international arrivals into New Zealand in 2020-21, falling by 98.6%. The New Zealand Government's (Te Kawanatanga o Aotearoa) heavy restrictions on international arrivals to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the country, which were first implemented in March 2020, significantly constrained international arrival numbers. New Zealand reported just over 50,000 international visitor arrivals during 2020-21. This figure showed improvement in the following year to reach almost 230,000, but the New Zealand border remained closed for the bulk of 2021-22.

Marketing campaigns by Tourism New Zealand have contributed to the increased volumes reported from key markets like Australia and the United States over the period. The United Kingdom and the China are also key markets. According to Statistics New Zealand, Australia, China, the United States and the United Kingdom typically account for just over 65% of international arrivals. Holidays are the primary reason for inbound international travel to New Zealand in an average year, with other segments including visiting friends & relatives, business and education. Despite significant growth in the number of inbound travelers in the current year, high levels of inflation globally have placed substantial pressure on consumers ability to travel abroad, subduing growth. Overall, IBISWorld forecasts the number of international arrivals to riseat a compound annual rate of 0.5% over the five years through 2024-25.

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5-Year Outlook – International travel to New Zealand

IBISWorld forecasts the number of international arrivals to total 3.97 million in 2025-26, repres...

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