This classic ad was produced after the fourth Labour Government came into power in 1984, and immediately devalued New Zealand's currency by 20 percent to avoid a run on the dollar.
The Chinese New Year gave tourism a boost in late summer, according to new data from Stats NZ.
Overseas visitor arrivals were 370,200 in January, an increase of 43,800 from the same month in 2024.
More than one third of that increase was due to 15,200 extra Chinese tourists, although all major markets except India sent more visitors to New Zealand than they did a year earlier.
“The increase in overseas visitor arrivals from China coincided with the Chinese New Year, which began on January 29,” Stats NZ said.
“Monthly arrivals from China typically peak in January or February each year, depending on the timing of the Chinese New Year. In 2024 the Chinese New Year began on 10 February.”
But overall numbers have still not reached pre-Covid levels.
The total number of overseas visitor arrivals in January was at 93% of the 399,300 people who visited in January 2019.
Of all the 370,200 overseas visitor arrivals recorded in January, 38% were from Australia, 14% from the US, 10% from China, and 8% from the UK.
Across the year to January 31, 3.36 million overseas visitors arrived.
A Year of the Snake display at the BNZ Auckland Lantern Festival last month. Photo / Michael Craig
That was up 11.36% on the year before.
ASB economists said the inbound tourist market had been one of the economy’s few bright spots lately.
The bank economists said visitor numbers for 2024 were up 12% on the year before and tourist exports last year reached $15.8 billion, an almost $3b annual increase.
“There were few signs that the increase in the tourism visitor levy is impacting visitor numbers, with the annual visitor numbers hitting five-year highs.”
The economists expected annual tourist inflows to edge higher, but to still be well short of pre-Covid records.
They said the resilience of some higher-spending visitor markets, especially the US, and higher travel costs since Covid-19 meant spending by overseas tourists was probably already back to pre-pandemic highs.
“The challenge will be to continue to grow the sector at a time of heightened global uncertainty.”
