Annual permanent and long-term arrivals up

Permanent and long-term (PLT) arrivals of people to this country exceeded departures by 200 in June 2006, figures from Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) today show.

Last month's figures compared with an excess of 300 departures in June 2005.

On a seasonally adjusted basis the net PLT inflow last month was 1200, compared with a net inflow of 900 in May.

In the June 2006 year, there was a net PLT migration gain of 10,700, up 24 per cent on the net inflow of 8600 people in the previous June year.

The annual net PLT outflow to Australia was 20,500 in the June 2006 year, down from a figure of 21,400 at the start of the year but higher than the 19,300 in June 2005.

The drop in net PLT outflow to Australia during 2006 was mainly driven by a fall of 900 in the number of New Zealand citizens leaving for Australia, SNZ said.

Figures for annual net PLT migration fluctuate significantly, with a net loss of 13,200 in the February 2001 year, followed by a change in the direction of the net flow in 2001 then a rapid increase to a peak net inflow of 42,500 in the May 2003 year. After that annual net PLT migration dropped to a low of 6000 in October 2005.

The impact of last year's visit by the British and Irish Lions rugby tour meant the 139,900 short-term overseas visitor arrivals in June this year was 11 per cent lower than the figure for June 2005.

But last month's numbers were up 4 per cent, or 5100, on June 2004, SNZ said.

Compared to June 2005, last month more visitors came from the US and Korea, with fewer from Britain, Japan, and Australia.

Seasonally adjusted, the monthly visitor arrivals were up 2 per cent in June 2006, following a fall of 1 per cent in May.

For the year ended June 2006, there were 2.378 million visitor arrivals, down 26,200 -- 1 per cent -- from the June 2005 year.

New Zealand residents departed on 187,800 short-term overseas trips in June 2006, up 15,300, or 9 per cent, on June 2005, SNZ said.

More trips were made to Britain, Australia, Thailand, Samoa and the US, with fewer to Indonesia.

For the June 2006 year, New Zealand resident short-term departures were up 4 per cent to 1.887 million.

- NZPA