The impact of a major event on tourism

25 July, 2017

Tourism NZ responded to new international visitor arrival results for Jun-2017, highlighting the impact a major event can have on tourism. The report, released by Statistics New Zealand, shows these visitors from the UK and Ireland peaked at 23,400 as a result of the British and Irish Lions tour. This is the highest number of combined monthly visitors to New Zealand from both countries since the last tour in Jun-2005.

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."