Tourism growth slows for New Zealand

The latest international visitor arrival figures released by Statistics New Zealand this morning show that there were 5,916 less international tourists in November 2005, a decrease of 2.7%.

"This is a continuing reflection of the trends we have been seeing for a few months now," says Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive George Hickton. "After years of exceptional growth, New Zealand is facing far more issues such as the exchange rate, as well as more competition for the traveller's dollar through the introduction of increasing numbers of low-cost airlines in Asia and Europe."

"We mustn't lose sight of the fact that we are still attracting a great deal more visitors than we did a few years ago. This is actually the second-best November on record."

International visitor arrivals to New Zealand for month of November 2005

• Australia 63,526 up 2.7%;
• USA 21,643 down 6%;
• UK 27,301 down 0.8%;
• Japan 16,836 down 16.2%.

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