Overseas visitors up, local numbers down

The end of Origin Pacific services contributed to the drop in the number of domestic passengers at Auckland Airport. Picture / Martin Sykes

The number of international visitors travelling through Auckland International Airport grew in September after two months of decline but domestic traffic was down.

The total number of international passengers was up 3.1 per cent on the same month last year at 501,746.

However, estimated domestic passenger numbers were down 4.6 per cent at 400,089 people, affected partly by the end of Origin Pacific services.

Forsyth Barr analyst Rob Mercer said the drop in domestic passengers was more than expected but not a key number in terms of earnings.

"The profitability from the domestic part of its operations would be significantly lower [than international]," Mercer said.

"At the same time they're just doing this big refurbishment of the domestic terminal, and retail services and car parking, that should actually provide, if anything, an improved opportunity for revenue."

Shares in Auckland Airport - which holds its annual meeting today - closed down 1c at $2.01.

The growth in international travellers last month followed a decline of 1.2 per cent in August and 4.9 per cent in July, which the airport said had been affected by tourist numbers for last year's Lions rugby tour.

China showed the greatest proportional rise in arrivals, jumping 36.6 per cent to 7517 people, with Korea also up 25 per cent at 6379.

The growth of Chinese and Korean travellers contrasted with a large decline in Japanese arrivals - down 26.7 per cent at 5017.

The high exchange rate, the growth in alternative destinations and a perception of increased global safety, which was previously a selling point of New Zealand, have influenced the highly valued Japanese tourist market.

Australia was the biggest international market with 44,358 arrivals, although this was down 5.9 per cent on the same month last year, which had benefited from a Bledisloe Cup match and some large conferences.

An upgrade of the fleet and new flights to London Heathrow and Shanghai, starting next month, were expected to help the summer season show improvement, Mercer said.

Despite the 3.1 per cent growth in international passengers last month the year to September was down 1.1 per cent.

"Looking forward, I wouldn't read too much into the current numbers," Mercer said.

"We're sort of thinking that by the June 2007 year we'll be back around that 5 to 7 per cent international inbound [annual] growth."