Drop-off in tourists

The number of short-term overseas visitors coming to New Zealand eased in August from a year earlier, despite a big jump in Australian visitors.

The 161,100 overseas visitor arrivals last month were down 1400 or 1 per cent from August 2008, Statistics New Zealand said yesterday.

Arrivals from Australia were up 9200 or 12 per cent for the month, compared with August 2008, but numbers from Asia fell sharply.

Visitor arrivals from Japan fell 3500 or 39 per cent last month from a year earlier. Numbers from Korea were down 2100 or 34 per cent, while those from China dropped 1900 or 29 per cent.

Visitors from Japan and China had dropped sharply after concerns over the H1N1 influenza outbreak emerged in April. Large falls in arrivals from Korea were being recorded before the outbreak, Statistics NZ said.

Visitor numbers from the United States increased 700 or 7 per cent, returning numbers to the level of August 2007.

Arrivals from Britain dropped 1400 or 12 per cent and those from South Africa were down 600 or 38 per cent.

The estimated average number of visitors to this country per day in August was down 7 per cent to 100,000 from a year earlier, while the average length of stay fell from 18 days to 17 days.

In the year to August, 2.41 million visitors arrived, down 69,700 or 3 per cent from the August 2008 year.

- NZPA