Tourists return as swine flu fears recede

A rise in short-term visitors from China and Australia helped push up the numbers. Photo / Greg Bowker

The Chinese tourist market has recovered from a dose of the swine flu with arrivals from China helping push overall short-term overseas visitor numbers to a record for September.

Statistics New Zealand figures released yesterday showed there were also increased visitors from Australia as 12,600 or 15 per cent more people headed over the ditch to holiday or visit friends compared with last year.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said the figures pointed to New Zealand tourism being "pretty much past" the effects of the swine flu outbreak.

He said while the economic downturn was still hurting, the signs were that confidence was improving.

Short-term visitors from China increased by 15 per cent (800 people) in September compared with last year, and while numbers from Japan were down by 4 per cent or 200 people, and Korea by 33 per cent or 1500 people, they were not as dire as in recent months.

"They [Japan and Korea] are still down but are less down than they have been for months," he said.

The Australian numbers were encouraging because of the "Which New Zealand Are You This Time" campaign which began there in August, and in light of the Australian Government's spending incentives, he said.

"I am not saying this is the end of hard times but it is certainly encouraging."

The number of visitor from the US is also up. The chief executive of the Travel Agents Association, Paul Yeo, said increased competition between airlines Delta and V Australia across the Pacific was good for New Zealand, as tourists who visited Australia tended to also come here.

He remained optimistic for the summer tourism season but said the danger was now that Australians would overlook New Zealand as a destination.

"Australians have been strongly visiting here and their economy is really good at the moment.

"So there is a real possibility that Australians might start looking past New Zealand and looking for longer haul travel because it is such good value for them."

THE NUMBERS
* Visitor arrivals up 9 per cent to 158,000 from September 2008.
* Australian business travellers down 4 per cent (500) from September 2008.
* Short-term overseas visitor arrivals from the US up 10 per cent (900) from September 2008.