Japanese arrivals into Auckland Airport fell again in August, reflecting a continuing lull in the Japanese tourist market showing no signs of recovery.

Japanese arrivals were down 39.5% in August, following a 57.9% drop in July.

But as Air New Zealand launches summer charter flights to Japan, Tourism Industry Association chief executive Tim Cossar said efforts to attract Japanese visitors must continue, rather than spending those dollars on emerging markets.

“China and India are important emerging markets but Japan remains our fifth biggest market and Japanese visitors are among our biggest spenders, so we must continue marketing efforts there.”

He said forecasted Japanese arrivals predicted slightly negative annual growth of -0.2% to 2015.

“The Japanese economy has been hard hit by the global downturn and more recently, fears over swine flu also put many Japanese off travelling.

“Japanese travellers are also being attracted by budget airfares to short and medium-haul destinations at a time when New Zealand remains a relatively expensive destination for them.”

Tourism Holdings chief financial officer Ian Lewington said while the drop in Japanese numbers had not affected its campervan and holiday rentals, the fall was being felt at Waitomo. “Japanese groups are well down.”

He said adaptability was very important and the company’s $12 million investment in the Waitomo Caves building reflected the need to provide better value for money.

“It’s about time on the ground – it’s very competitive out there and we want to minimise the kilometres travelled and maximise the dollar spend.”

He expected that falling Japanese numbers would eventually flatten out. “The whole H1N1 swine flu issue will settle down, however it’s going to take quite a long time for the market to recover, given the recession and high exchange rate impacting on affordability,” he said.

“People will always want to travel so we have to be ready when it picks up.”