NEW ZEALAND IMMIGRATION NEWS

Tourists flock to New Zealand in record numbers

Thursday, 14 February 2008

New Zealand is more popular than ever, as the amount of people travelling to this beautiful country had reached record numbers in 2007, according to a recent report.

The report by Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) reveals that just over two million tourists have visited New Zealand last year. Never has such a high number for New Zealand tourism been recorded anywhere.

There's been a 2% increase in travellers to New Zealand from 2006, and Statistics New Zealand said that this meant that visitor numbers had increased by almost one million in the past decade.

Visitor numbers from Australia and Canada were particularly strong.

It's also been recorded that compared to 2006, the accommodation industry enjoyed a 4% increase rise in guest nights for the whole of 2007.

During December, 9 of 12 New Zealand regions recorded higher guest nights than in 2006. For December 2007, Canterbury came out tops with 14,000 (3% gain), followed by Bay of Plenty with 11,000 (3% gain). Wellington came in a close third with 10,000 (5% gain).

Caravan parks and camping grounds were also popular, recording a 4% increase when compared to a year earlier.

Looking at the entire 2007, Auckland seemed to be the most popular with 379,000 up (7% rise), followed by Canterbury's 184,000 (4% rise), and Otago making third place with a good 162,000 (4% increase).

Some believe that the increase in visitors is due to the massively increased profile the country achieved by being the backdrop for the successful "Lord of the Rings" movies, directed by Peter Jackson, a New Zealander himself.

If you'd like to visit New Zealand, take advantage of our free online visa eligibility assessment and see for which travelling visa you qualify for.

You could be walking through the fantasy landscape of this incredible country a lot sooner than you think!