Growth in annual visitor arrivals in New Zealand dropped to its lowest level in seven years, as the number of visitors from Asia continued to fall, New Zealand statistics department Stats NZ has said.
The total number of overseas visitor arrivals increased 2.1 per cent to 3.9 million for the year ended October 2019, compared with the year ended October 2018, Stats NZ said on Thursday.
This is the lowest annual growth in an October year since 2012, down from the most recent high of 12 per cent in the year ended October 2016, and below the five-year (2015-2019) average of 6.8 per cent.
"Visitor arrivals from Asia have been falling for the last nine months when compared with the same months last year," population indicators manager Tehseen Islam said in a statement.
Islam said the drop in visitors from Asia has been more than offset by increases in visitors from Australia and the United States, reports Xinhua.
More than one-third of visitors from Australia come to New Zealand to visit friends and family. About three-quarters of visitors from China, and two-thirds of visitors from the United States come for a holiday, he said.