International travel: April 2019

Key facts

In April 2019 compared with April 2018, overseas visitor arrivals were up 23,500 to 307,400. The biggest changes were in arrivals from:

• Australia (up 21,000)
• China (down 9,900)
• United Kingdom (up 3,500).

The most popular day for travel in April 2019 was Sunday the 28th, when there were 23,500 arrivals and 21,800 departures.

New Zealand residents returning

The number of New Zealand residents returning from an overseas trip in April 2019 was up 7,400 from April 2018, to 243,300. The biggest changes were in arrivals from:

• Australia (up 6,300)
• United States (down 1,800)
• Indonesia (up 1,300).

Annual arrivals

In the April 2019 year compared with the April 2018 year:

• visitor arrivals were 3.89 million, up 99,400
• New Zealand-resident traveller arrivals were 3.06 million, up 168,000.

Length of stay

Each month we include information on the median length of stay for overseas visitor arrivals and length of absence for New Zealand-resident traveller arrivals.

For the month of April 2019, the:

• median length of stay (half stayed less than this duration, half stayed more) for visitor arrivals was 8.0 days
• median length of absence (half stayed away less than this duration, half stayed away more) for New Zealand-resident traveller arrivals was 8.9 days.

Typically, the median length of stay is measured against all visitor arrivals, but this can hide the travel patterns of different groups of travellers.

When age is graphed against length of stay, for example, different patterns across age groups emerge.

The youngest and oldest age groups had the longest stays, with 0-24 year olds and those over 75 having a median stay around 10 days.

Those aged between 35 and 54 stayed the shortest time. This is likely due to this age group having more business travellers who tend to take shorter trips.