New Zealand visits are up, migration down

At a time when New Zealand is trying to attract skilled migrants from overseas, statistics are showing that migration to the country is slowing down. However, short term visits are on the rise -- showing that the country is still nurturing a healthy tourism market.

Visits

Statistic New Zealand (SNZ) released a report on 20 August 2007 showing that 173,000 people visited New Zealand in July 2007, up 6,100 (4 percent) from July 2006. The increase was attributed to 15 percent more visitors from Australia over July of last year.

Visitor arrivals from New Zealand's other top source countries decreased compared to July 2006. The United States was down 2,700 visitors (17 percent), Japan was down 1,200 visitors (12 percent), and South Korea was down 1,200 visitors (11 percent).

For a year ending in July 2007, 2.464 million visitors arrived in New Zealand, up 87,700 (4 percent) over the previous year period. The top source countries were Australia (up 49,200 or 6 percent), China (up 19,000 or 19 percent), and the United Kingdom (up 11,200 or 4 percent). Japan was down 18,500 visitors (13 percent) over the same period in 2006.

Migration

Compared with July 2006, 800 more citizens left New Zealand on a permanent or long-term basis in July 2007. New Zealand arrivals for citizens that have been overseas on a long-term basis were down 300 compared with July 2006.

For a year ending July 2007, net permanent and long-term migration was 9,000. This is down from the net gain of 12,100 during the same period the year before. This is the first time that net permanent and long-term migration has been below 10,000 since the March 2006 year.

Net permanent and long-term migration was 9,000 in the July 2007 year, down from the net gain of 12,100 in the July 2006 year. This is the first time that net PLT migration has been below 10,000 since the year ending in March 2006.