Swine flu scares away Asian tourists

A passenger arriving from Korea wears a facemask. The number of Asian visitors fell 37 per cent last month. Photo / Greg Bowker

The swine flu outbreak has driven Asian visitor numbers to new lows, wiping out gains made by more Australians coming here.

Statistics New Zealand figures out yesterday show visitor numbers fell 5 per cent last month despite a 9 per cent increase from Australia - New Zealand's largest tourism market.

Asian visitors fell by 37.4 per cent with those coming from Japan plummeting 66.7 per cent - the lowest number of arrivals for any month since June 1985.

China, New Zealand's fourth-largest market, was down 49.4 per cent, while visitors from Korea fell by 48.5 per cent compared with June last year.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said the June figures provided the first clear picture of the effect of swine flu on Asian visitors' confidence to travel.

"Experience with past shocks, like Sars and September 11, meant we knew that arrivals from our Asian markets would likely be badly hit by the swine flu outbreak."

News of the swine flu emerged in New Zealand at the end of April and began to hit Asian visitor arrivals in May.

But a huge surge in Australian visitors masked the overall decline.

"We are hoping China will start to improve from September, and the outlook for Japan is also looking slightly better for the first time in many months," Hickton said.

But ASB economist Jane Turner said she expected visitor arrivals to remain weak over the next year as the global economic recession reduced demand for travel, particularly long-haul journeys.

Visitor arrivals for the year to June were down 3 per cent to 2.41 million.