In the figures from the UNWTO 2018 report and published by globehunters.ca the number of international tourist arrivals and tourism receipts from the past year were used to rank the top 100 high value travellers.
Australia was first, followed by Luxembourg ($6838), then Lebanon ($6485), with New Zealand just ahead of US tourists who spend an average of $4333 per visit.
However, this is per tourist. When you look at total annual tourist spend the picture gets turned on its head.
The USA is by far the top spending country on tourism spending $333.4 billion from nearly 77 million international departures.
Namibia, on the other hand, is the world's smallest tourism market with just under 1.5 million international departures spending around $330 on each trip.
So should we be inviting more Aussies across the water to see the sights of "Noo Zeelund?"
Looking at the 2018 numbers from MBIE's Immigration and Tourism bureau we see that when in Aotearoa, Australians don't feel quite as generous.
Aussie tourists spend an average of just under $1927 on a visit to New Zealand or $219 a night.
However the total Australian tourism market still accounts for by far the largest group of arrivals and total spend in New Zealand. Last year $2.5 billion crossed the ditch with 1.3 million Aussie tourists.
However, it turns out the biggest average spend in New Zealand comes not from fellow antipodeans but all the way from Germany. An average German tourist spends just under $6000 in a single visit.
"Danke shoen!"
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The worlds' top spending tourists
Australia - $7490
Luxembourg - $6838
Lebanon - $6485
New Zealand - $4577
USA - $4333
The world's biggest spending tourist markets
USA - $333,420,721,230
Spain – $107,525,164,760
France - $96,002,803,290
Thailand - $90,933,786,930
UK - $81,020,410,990