Aust. visitors up sharply

Press, 7 October 1987, Page 13

Aust. visitors up sharply

PA Wellington The number of Australians visiting New Zealand in July rose 26.3 per cent on the previous year, reversing the downward trend, Statistic Department figures show. The number of Australians visiting for a holiday rose 18.4 per cent to 9552 and the number visiting friends and relations rose 37.5 per cent to 6744. For the year to July 1987, Australian visitor arrivals were 279,060, a

decrease of 1.2 per cent over the previous year. The July month increase marks a turnaround in a long-term over-all drop in the number of visitors from Australia, New Zealand’s biggest tourist market. Concern about that decline and its effects on some tourism businesses prompted the Tourist and Publicity Department to organise a “Spring Surprise” package, offering Australians a return

airfare and week’s accommodation for SNZ43O. The department’s general manager, Mr Neil Plimmer, said the package had been an enormous success, travel offices in Australia receiving about 500 calls a day about it. However, departmental briefing papers presented to the Government last week predicted a significant decline in the importance of the Australian market. ■ •

"Arrivals from Australia have increased by almost 60,000 visitors since 1980 and the Australian market remains New Zealand’s most important,” it says. “Its proportion of arrivals has, however, declined from 48.2 per cent in 1980 to 35.7 per cent in 1987, and is estimated to be 29.3 per cent by 1992, the equivalent of 325,000 visitor arrivals in that year. - -