Spending by international visitors was down 6.5 per cent to $5,564 billion for the year ending June 2011, according to the Ministry of Economic Development’s International Visitor Survey released on Tuesday.
The research showed that spending by British and American tourists dropped by 18.4 per cent and 13.9 per cent respectively, while Australia was also down 5.8 per cent for the year.
Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive Kevin Bowler said the results, while disappointing reflected the challenges that a high currency and natural events have placed on tourism.
“Given the high New Zealand dollar, slow economic recovery in the US and Europe and the impact of natural events that have hit New Zealand, Japan and Australia hard, it’s not surprising that overall visitor spend has decreased for the year ending June 2011.
“On a positive note, the decrease is not considered as large as may have been anticipated and spending by visitors from China (up 12.4 per cent) and Korea (up 11.5 per cent) continue to show strong growth.
“Chinese visitor spending at $410 million is closing in on, and may soon overtake, the value of the US $443 million visitor economy.”

The Ministry of Economic Development’s International Visitor Survey draws on a sample of 5,200 departing international visitors per year.

City.Mobi

Also in New Zealand today, City.Mobi is celebrating the success of its new guide to Wellington.

City.Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the City.Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.Mobi, Paris.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.

Wellington.mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality – which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.

Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.

Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, and transport.

City.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.