International Visitor Survey (IVS)

The International Visitor Survey (IVS) measures the expenditure, characteristics, and behaviours of international visitors to New Zealand.

Update June 2025

This release includes rolling annual results for year-ending March 2025 and for March Quarter 2025 (January to March). High level results and visualisations can be found on the Tourism Evidence and Insights Centre (TEIC):

Tourism Evidence and Insights Centre(external link)

For year ending March 2025, the larger sample size for annual data means results are available for Total (all countries), Australia, UK, USA, Rest of Europe, Asia, Germany, Canada, Rest of World, and China. Consistent with the increase in international visitor arrivals, the total sample size for the March quarter is higher than for the December quarter (October to December 2024).  

We advise caution when using and interpreting IVS quarterly-level results.  These statistics have a higher margin of error than annual level statistics due to the smaller sample size from the shorter survey period.  

This quarter is the first implementation of a new weighting scheme, which has reduced the number of small and large weighting factors. This change enhances the stability of the results by minimizing the influence of any single observation on the overall outcome. Previously released quarterly results are not affected by this change. However, please note that the rolling annual results now include one quarter that uses the new weights. The impact of this change is minimal when comparing results derived from the old and new weights.   

Micro data can be found on the IVS data download page:

IVS data download

More information on data quality, including sample sizes, response rates, and margins of error can be found on the Survey quality page:

Survey quality for the IVS

In this section

International Visitor Survey data release materials

On this page, we provide a link to the new data visualisations for the March 2025 quarter (Q1) and year ending March 2025. Summaries of previous releases are also provided.

IVS survey quality

This page contains key survey quality metrics for the International Visitor Survey (IVS).

IVS analysis and research

Articles providing a deeper analysis of the International Visitor Survey (IVS) data.

IVS methodology

Information about the International Visitor Survey (IVS) methodology, including its purpose, quality targets, population, sampling structure and collection, data processing, analysis and outputs.

IVS questionnaire and brochures

Information about the International Visitor Survey (IVS), including links to the PDF version of the questionnaire and brochures.

IVS classifications and definitions

A list of International Visitor Survey (IVS) terms and classifications, to assist with interpreting the data.

IVS data available from Stats NZ

This page provides links to some of the detailed International Visitor Survey data that Stats NZ host through its NZ.Stat tool. Updated IVS data via the nz.stat portal is planned for late 2023.

IVS data download

As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting tourism research, this page provides the International Visitor Survey (IVS) microdata.

Last updated: 03 June 2025