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22-Jan-2021 10:59 AM

International travel: November 2020

Direct News Source

International travel: November 2020

International travel covers the number and characteristics of overseas visitors and New Zealand resident travellers (short-term movements) entering or leaving New Zealand.

Impact of COVID-19 on international travel

Since January 2020, governments have imposed international travel restrictions in multiple countries, due to the spread of COVID-19 around the world. In March 2020, the New Zealand government introduced further measures to protect New Zealanders from the COVID-19 virus, effectively limiting travel to New Zealand and travel within New Zealand.

Key facts

Overseas visitor arrivals

Overseas visitor arrivals were almost unchanged in November 2020, compared with October 2020.

In the eight months from April 2020 to November 2020 there were 31,400 visitor arrivals, down 2.1 million compared to the same eight months in 2019. From April to November 2020 the main source countries of overseas visitors were Australia, United States, United Kingdom, China, the Philippines, and India. Arrivals from other countries were led by Canada and Hong Kong.

Overseas visitors are people who usually reside overseas and include both New Zealand citizens and non-New Zealand citizens.

Overseas visitor arrivals were down by 367,000 to 5,100 in November 2020, compared with November 2019. The biggest changes were in arrivals from:

New Zealand residents returning

The number of New Zealand residents returning from an overseas trip in November 2020 was down by 500 to 2,500, compared with October 2020.

In the eight months from April 2020 to November 2020, there were 25,700 New Zealand resident arrivals, down 2.2 million compared with the same eight months in 2019. The main source countries were Australia, India, China, United Kingdom, and the United States. Arrivals from other countries were led by the Philippines.

In some months, New Zealand residents returned to New Zealand on repatriation flights, operating as part of the international response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of New Zealand residents returning from an overseas trip in November 2020 was down by 231,200 to 2,500, compared with November 2019. The biggest changes were in New Zealand residents arriving from:

Annual arrivals

In the November 2020 year compared with the November 2019 year, the number of visitor arrivals was 1.52 million, down by 2.37 million. The biggest changes were in arrivals from:

In the November 2020 year compared with the November 2019 year, the number of New Zealand-resident traveller arrivals was 873,800, down by 2.21 million. The biggest changes were in arrivals from:

Correction to passenger type for arrivals from July to October 2020

'Overseas visitor' and 'Permanent and long-term' (PLT) arrivals have been corrected for the months July to October 2020. This does not impact total passenger arrival numbers or official migration estimates.

The classification of arrivals to 'Overseas visitor', 'Permanent and long-term', or 'NZ-resident traveller' is largely based on responses on the passenger arrival card. Since March 2020, these cards have been initially processed on behalf of the Ministry of Health to assist with COVID-19 border management. Card data is then sent to Stats NZ for further processing and publication.

When Stats NZ initially processed the card data for July to October 2020 the number of 'PLT' arrivals were understated, and the number of 'overseas visitor' arrivals were overstated. We have reprocessed the data for the July to October 2020 months to correct these passenger types.

Table 1 Corrections to passenger type for arrivals July-October 2020

Month

Passenger type

Arrivals before correction

Arrivals after correction

Difference

July 2020

Permanent and long-term

2,202

2,552

350

New Zealand resident

3,107

3,107

0

Overseas visitor

3,831

3,481

-350

August 2020

Permanent and long-term

378

3,438

3,060

New Zealand resident

3,295

3,295

0

Overseas visitor

7,842

4,782

-3,060

September 2020

Permanent and long-term

427

3,458

3,031

New Zealand resident

2,723

2,723

0

Overseas visitor

8,550

5,519

-3,031

October 2020

Permanent and long-term

413

4,392

3,979

New Zealand resident

2,927

2,927

0

Overseas visitor

9,052

5,073

-3,979

Since November 2018, PLT arrivals are no longer the official measure of migrant arrivals into New Zealand. Estimated migrant arrivals, migrant departures and net migration now use an outcomes-based measure of migration, based on the time spent in and out of New Zealand after crossing the border.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Early and provisional international travel data

Each week, Stats NZ releases early and provisional international travel statistics - International travel (provisional) - to facilitate analysis of the COVID-19 international pandemic and the impact on New Zealand's inbound and outbound tourism sectors. This includes:

  • weekly travel data for short-term overseas visitor and New Zealand resident arrivals
  • arrivals and departures data based solely on border-crossings into and out of New Zealand
  • stock estimates of visitors in New Zealand, and New Zealand residents travelling overseas, based on arrivals and departures.

Provisional daily border crossing data are also being updated daily on the Stats NZ COVID-19 data portal.

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This press release was sourced from Statistics New Zealand on 21-Jan-2021.