Iraq war and Sars virus knock tourist numbers

The Sars virus, the war on Iraq and the timing of Easter are all being blamed for a fall in visitors arrived to New Zealand last month.

Statistics New Zealand says 193,900 short-term visitors arrived during the month, a 4 per cent drop on arrivals for March last year.

Visitor numbers were up in the first two weeks of March this year, but dropped off in the last two, said Government statistician Brian Pink.

"Visitors may have been deterred by the Sars virus in parts of Asia, and by the uncertainty preceding the United States-led invasion of Iraq," Pink said.

Visitors numbers from Oceania, Asia and Europe were well down last month compared to the same period last year.

The number of visitors from Hong Kong was down 44 per cent (1368), possibly because of Sars concerns in the area.

British visitors were down 3564 to 25,308, Australians down 1645 to 60,743, and Japanese down 1102 to 17,024.

The number of days visitors spent in the country last month was down 3 per cent on March last year.

But the average stay increased one day to 21.

For the 12 months to March this year, visitor arrivals increased 107,600 to 2.062 million compared to the year before.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said the timing of the Easter break had also affected visitor arrivals during the month.

"Figures in March and April are always affected by the timing of the Easter break," he said.

"This fell in March last year and boosted numbers of visitors for the month, especially on short-haul destinations such as Australia."

In March this year, 87,461 New Zealanders left on short-term trips, down 13,700 on March 2002. More than half went to Australia.

Pink said the fall in numbers of New Zealanders heading overseas could also be partly due to Easter weekend falling in March last year.

In the year to March, the net inflow of permanent and long-term migrants was up 16,000 on the previous year, at 41,600.

There were 98,700 permanent and long-term arrivals compared with 57,100 permanent and long-term departures.

- NZPA