NZ braces for fewer tourists
Contributors are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the contributor directly
Tourism operators in New Zealand can expect a tenth of their business to be cut this summer, as international visitor numbers slumped for the month of October, a report said.
Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive, George Hickton, issued the warning alongside Statistics New Zealand figures showing a 3.3% drop in international visitor arrivals compared with those for October 2007.
Dominion Post reported that Australia was the only market from New Zealand’s top five visitor countries to record an increase, and even then only by 69 people or 0.1%.
The United Kingdom, the United States, China and Japan all dipped. China recorded the worst drop of all, down 31.5% with 3,000 less visitors during the month. Both China and US visitor numbers hit a five-year-low, the report said.
Hickton was quoted saying that with the continued drop in consumer confidence globally, more was to come.
“There is likely to be a drop of more than 10% in visitor numbers over summer compared to the same time last year,” he said.
Wellington coach operator Wally Hammond was quoted saying that it was one of the worst downturns he had seen.
Comments are closed.