Tourists’number rose of 7% during the previous 12 months
Prime Minister John Key, who’s also tourism minister, says it’s a huge milestone.
“Already, tourism is our second-largest export earner and the industry continues to go from strength to strength”, he said on Friday.
“Today we have more people coming to New Zealand than ever, spending more and staying for longer, helping boost our economy and creating more jobs.”
The statistics show there were 3,002,982 visitors in the year ending July 2015, seven per cent more than the previous 12 months.
Tourism industry was directly responsible for 4.7% of employment in NZ
âInternational visitor spend is distributed widely across the economy; itâs not just accommodation or tourism activities that benefit; spending occurs at the local supermarket, petrol station, dairy, retail shops, and a myriad of other local businesses.â
Prior to recent news the tourism industry was directly responsible for nearly 100,000 jobs (4.7 per cent of employment) in New Zealand. A further 73,000 people are indirectly employed bringing the total number of people employed as a result of tourism to around 170,000 (or 8.3 per cent of all New Zealandâs employment).
We are also starting to see more visitors arriving outside of the traditional summer period and a wider regional distribution of visitor spending â all positive signs for the long-term growth of the industry and New Zealandâs regions.
