Aussies keep arriving

Visitor arrivals continued to increase in October, with Australians again, leading the trend.

Statistics New Zealand’s international travel and migration figures for October 2009 show arrivals were up 8% or 13,400 to 187,400 compared with the same period in 2008.

But arrivals in the October 2009 year, at 2.4 million, were down 1% or 24,400 from the October 2008 year.

In the seventh month of large increases of visitor arrivals from across the Tasman, Australians were the major contributor, recording a 22% increase, to 15,900 more visitor arrivals.

Visitors from China also increased (up 1,100).

But visitors from Korea and the UK were down 1,900 and 1,300 respectively, from October 2008.

New Zealanders went on more trips to Australia but less to the UK, the figures show.

Short-term overseas trips were up slightly, to 176,500 (less than 1%) but again, numbers for the October 2009 year were down compared to the October 2008 year (3% or 65,900 to 1.9 million trips).

New Zealanders went on 2,400 more trips (3%) to Australia and 1,200 more trips to Samoa (37%) than October 2008.

Trips to the UK were down 900 or 19%.

Fewer people are leaving the country permanently. Permanent and long-term (PLT) departures were down by 2,000 in October 2009, including 1,800 less to Australia and 200 less to the UK.

Government statistician Geoff Bascand said monthly PLT figures had fallen by at least 1,000 and arrivals had decreased by 500 in October 2009.

The country’s annual net PLT migration balance showed a gain of 18,600 in the October 2009 year, up from 4,300 in the October 2008 year, because 14,900 less people departed permanently or for the long-term compared with the previous year.