Nine percent more overseas visitors arrived in New Zealand in the June 2026 year – and arrivals from Australia have hit a record level.
By Susan Edmunds of RNZ
Stats NZ said the increase was almost 300,000 people, and visitors from Australia and China made up two-thirds of the lift.
There were 144,400 more visitor arrivals from Australia and 67,000 more visitor arrivals from China in the June 2026 year, compared with the June 2025 year.
The largest sources of visitor arrivals in the June 2026 year were Australia (1.59 million), the United States (385,500), China (315,400), and the United Kingdom (196,500).
"Visitor arrivals from Australia in the June 2026 year were a record for any annual period from that country and the latest in a succession of annual records starting with the March 2026 year," international travel statistics spokesperson Dave O'Donovan said.
South Island airports collectively had 1.05 million arrivals of overseas visitors in the June 2026 year, up from 881,300 in the June 2025 year.
"Arrivals of overseas visitors to South Island airports exceeded 1 million annually for the first time in the March 2026 year and have remained above this level through to the June 2026 year," O'Donovan said.
"Christchurch airport led the growth in overseas visitor arrivals to the South Island in the June 2026 year, followed by Queenstown airport."
Strong Australian growth and long-haul reluctance
Infometrics principal economist Nick Brunsdon said the increase in the June year was helped by a pick-up earlier in the year, which had since been knocked back by the war in the Middle East. Month-on-month arrivals only lifted a seasonally adjusted 0.1% and arrivals are still at 95% of pre-pandemic levels.
He said the strong Australian growth helped to offset reluctance from longer-haul travellers during periods of geopolitical uncertainty.
"The interesting thing with Australia is that they've already fully recovered. You would expect arrivals to get back to where they were pre-pandemic and then stick around there and that hasn't been the case with Australia, they are now at 106% of where they were in 2019.
"Even if jet fuel prices are ridiculous, they're a bit of a hedge for us against those longer-haul markets. Someone coming from Europe is going to be quite sensitive to the price of jet fuel because that really affects their airfares."
He said Chinese arrivals were also boosted by a one-year trial allowing them to arrive without a visa. If that was not rolled over, their numbers could fall again.
They were particularly interested in the South Island, he said.
"Oil prices have come back but there's a lot of uncertainty around how long that's going ot hang around…. They've come back form that intense point that they were in April, so that's possibly going to help. There's always a bit of a lag through because you book your flights then you come six to 12 months later. I might expect a flat period for the next six months as things are kind of restoring to a somewhat new normal."
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