Key Facts & Figures

Tourism plays a key role in our economic growth by providing employment, foreign exchange earnings and investment, and by encouraging regional development.

Visitor Arrivals There's been almost constant growth in international visitor arrivals for the last four decades. Most recently, for the year ended December 2007, overseas visitor arrivals totalled 2.465 million, up 1.8% over the previous year.

Length and Number of Stay Days The average length of time spent in New Zealand by visitors in 2007 was 20 days.

Economic Contribution Tourism directly and indirectly contributes 8.9% of New Zealand's GDP and is one of New Zealand's largest export industries. These figures are based on the Tourism Satellite Account 2006. International Tourism currently generates approximately $8.3 billion per annum in foreign exchange. The tourism industry as a whole (domestic and international) contributes $12.8 billion per annum to GDP. The Government raises $1.3 billion in GST revenues from tourism. Tourism and Education services are the only New Zealand export industries liable for GST.

Regional Development The money spent by international and domestic visitors is a significant driver of regional development throughout New Zealand. Every region benefits.

Employment The New Zealand tourism industry is made up of 10 major public-listed companies and between 13,500 and 18,000 small to medium enterprises. Tourism is a major employer and supports one in ten jobs in New Zealand in a wide variety of jobs and skill levels, with over 108,600 full-time equivalent jobs provided directly through tourism and an estimated 74,500 indirectly.

World Trends Tourism is a global industry and its growth potential is unrivalled. Trade in services is the largest and fastest growing sector in the global economy and tourism is a significant component of this.

Contribution to Other Sectors Tourism impacts directly upon a range of sectors including: transport accommodation retail catering financial services

Many other sectors benefit through provision of goods and services that support tourism businesses, including: construction printing and publishing manufacturing insurance

See the Tourism Satellite Account for more information about tourism's contribution to the economy.