Airport's overseas arrivals down again

The number of international visitors travelling through Auckland International Airport continued to fall in August compared with the same month last year.

Total international passengers fell by 1.2 per cent to 470,494.

That figure consisted of a 2.6 per cent decline in arrivals offset by a 0.1 per cent growth in departures. It was the second month in a row that total numbers have fallen.

In July international passengers were down by 4.9 per cent when compared to July 2005 - a drop driven largely by the British Lion's tour which spiked the numbers last year.

The August data also shows a continuation of the large-scale drop in Japanese visitor numbers which has been causing concern for the tourism industry. Japanese arrivals dropped 17 per cent compared to the same month last year - to 7527. That follows a July drop of 8.6 per cent and a drop of 13.2 per cent for the year to date.

The tourism industry has identified the exchange rate and the rise in popularity of other Asian holiday destinations as key reasons for the negative trend out of Japan.

Going some way to balance that fall was the continued rise in passengers from China. Chinese arrivals were 12 per cent up on the same month a year earlier and 13.1 per cent for the year to date. US and German numbers were also up during August.

Auckland Airport shares were unmoved yesterday, closing at $2.04.