June 2019 revisions to the IVS

Stats NZ publishes International Travel statistics which are used in the calculation of the International Visitor Survey (IVS).To meet IVS deadlines, Stats NZ supplied early provisional unpublished data, before data processing was complete, to MBIE for the December 2018 month. MBIE have now obtained the final data published by Stats NZ and have revised the IVS spend figures for the year ended December 2018 and the year ended March 2019.

Key facts

  • Overall changes are mostly minor and not statistically significant, with the exception of the “other” purpose of visit spending category.

  • People travelling to New Zealand for other purposes, such as education, conferences and conventions or not stated or unknown, was revised down $104 million in years ended December 2018 and March 2019. This was offset by a rise in holiday/vacation visitors (up $97 million for both periods).

  • Overall international spending was revised from $11.16 billion to $11.18 billion (up 0.2 per cent) in the year ended December 2018, and from $11.23 billion to $11.25 billion (up 0.2 per cent) in the year ended March 2019.

  • All of the top six markets were revised by less than one per cent for both December and March. None of these differences were statistically significant.

Country of origin

Year ended December 2018

  Australia China UK USA Germany Japan All
Original ($m) $2,592 $1,676 $906 $1179 $580 $246 $11,162 
Revised ($m) $2,578 $1,687 $906 $1,184 $581 $247 $11,181
Difference ($m) -$14 $11 $0 $5 $0 $1 $20
% Difference -1% 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Year ended March 2019

  Australia China UK USA Germany Japan All
Original ($m) $2,648 $1,631 $926 $1,308 $560 $266 $11,233
Revised ($m) $2,633 $1,642 $926 $1,313 $560 $267 $11,253
Difference ($m) -$14 $11 $0 $5 $0 $1 $20
% Difference -1% 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Purpose of visit

Year ended December 2018

  Holiday/vacation Visiting friends Business Other All
Original ($m) $7,003 $2,293 $789 $1,076 $11,162
Revised ($m) $7,100 $2,316 $793 $972 $11,181
Difference ($m) $97 $23 $4 -$104 $20
% Difference 1% 1% 0% -10% 0%

Year ended March 2019

  Holiday/vacation Visiting friends Business Other All
Original ($m) $6,976 $2,255 $749 $1,253 $11,233
Revised ($m) $7,073 $2,278 $753 $1,149 $11,253
Difference ($m) $97 $23 $4 -$104 $20
% Difference 1% 1% 1% -8% 0%
Last updated: 22 August 2019