Tourism NZ CEO Stephen England-Hall stated: "This is a great example of why we support major events like this which bring benefits to the New Zealand economy overall and to local communities that benefit from the influx of tourists". The latest data also shows strong holiday arrivals growth year-on-year from Australia (9.7%), Indonesia (48.1%), Malaysia (53.6%) and Singapore (9.0%).
Interestingly, arrivals from China have softened with 296,336 Chinese holiday arrivals in the year ending Jun-2017, a -3.6% decrease.
However, Mr England-Hall believes the decrease has been balanced by increases in holiday arrivals from other markets, such as the US which saw a 31.2% increase for the same period.
"While the number of holiday arrivals from China have dropped, we are still seeing impressive growth in overall holiday arrivals with a 17.3% increase."