NZ ski tourism concerned about strong AUD

NZSki CEO James Coddington stated he is concerned the strong Australian dollar could affect tourist arrivals for the winter ski season, with the strong Australian currency encouraging travel to other destinations (Sunday Star Times, 08-May-2011). Australia is New Zealand's largest source of inbound tourism and data release recently by Statistics New Zealand showed international arrivals fell by 11.4% in Mar-2011. Arrivals from Australia, the major market for New Zealand's winter ski season, were down 11.3%.