Australian tourist spending up 9pc

The extent of the influx of Australian tourists to New Zealand when long-haul markets were hit by the global recession and the swine flu epidemic is revealed in Ministry of Tourism figures released yesterday.

Spending by international tourists declined overall by 2.2 per cent to $6 billion in the year to March 2010, according to the ministry. But Australian spending rose by 9.4 per cent to $1.8 billion while non-Australian expenditure fell 6.4 per cent to $4.2 billion.

The big rise in Australian spending was due to an increase in the number of Australians holidaying in New Zealand as the spend per Australian tourist fell slightly.

"The global recession has been the main driver of weaker performance with the added influence of last year's influenza pandemic, which affected outbound travel from key Asian markets," said Bruce Bassett, research manager at the Ministry of Tourism.

The increase in Australian spending compensated for the weakness in the long-haul market. "It was a very dramatic year for tourism as the economic downturn really affected long-haul markets."

- NZPA