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Overseas visitor arrivals to New Zealand totalled 3.3 million in the December 2024 year, according to data released by Stats NZ.
This was up 357,000 (12 per cent) from the December 2023 year.
Australia led the increase in visitor arrivals, up 127,000 (10 per cent) from 2023. China followed with an increase of 97,000 (64 per cent), and the United States with an increase of 32,000 (10 per cent).
“There were just over 2200 more international flights to New Zealand in 2024 than in 2023,” international travel statistics spokesperson Sarah Drake says.
“This included 1700 more direct flights from Australia, China, and the United States, combined. These countries were the three main sources of visitor arrivals to New Zealand.”
There were 1.4 million visitor arrivals from Australia, followed by the United States (370,000), China (248,000), the United Kingdom (180,000), and India (83,000).
“The 370,000 visitor arrivals from the United States in 2024 was a record for a calendar year, and they made up just over one in 10 of all visitor arrivals,” Sarah says.
Increase in visitors coming for a holiday
In 2024 there were 1.6 million arrivals to New Zealand by overseas visitors taking a holiday, up 279,000 (21 per cent) from 2023.
“A holiday was the main purpose of travel given by just over half of visitor arrivals in 2024,” Sarah says.
“The second most popular purpose was visiting friends and relatives, which accounted for one-third of visitor arrivals.”
Just over 1 million overseas visitor arrivals visited friends and relatives in 2024, up 58,000 (6 per cent) from 2023.
Highest monthly visitor arrivals in five years
In the December 2024 month, there were 469,800 overseas visitor arrivals, up 51,000 (12 per cent) from 418,900 in December 2023.
The number of overseas visitor arrivals in December 2024 was the highest since the 528,200 in December 2019, just before the COVID-19-related disruption to international travel from early-2020.
In the December 2024 month, overseas visitor arrivals numbers were 89 per cent of their pre-pandemic level in December 2019.
*Overseas visitors are people living overseas who are in New Zealand for less than 12 months and include both New Zealand and non-New Zealand citizens.
