Summer of stats part 5 – Where are we travelling?

A running series from Statistics New Zealand helping us make sense of the Food Price Index and the Consumers Price Index…

In 2009 we made fewer overseas trips than in the previous years, but numbers going to Australia dropped only a little and we’re still travelling more than we did in 2006.

New Zealanders make almost two million overseas trips every year, twice as many as in 1995. Half of our trips are to Australia.

Numbers leaving for the Pacific are up a little on two years ago – the Pacific attracts almost the same number of Kiwis as the whole of Asia. The most significant increase isn’t surprising — in the month following the September tsunami, departures for Samoa leapt by 1200.

Fewer of us left for Europe and most Asian countries. In fact, India is the only Asian destination steadily attracting more New Zealand visitors — numbers going there have doubled in the last five years.

Only one in 12 New Zealand travellers headed for Europe. In 2009, numbers were 20,000 down on two years ago.

The United Kingdom is still our top European destination, but those numbers are falling steadily. One out of every five New Zealanders who go to Europe now prefer France, Germany or Italy.

Those going to Germany are most likely to be visiting friends and relatives, while most going to France and Italy tick Holiday/Vacation on their departure cards, but perhaps they’re thinking of food and wine or rugby!

(Statistics are for short-term departures — New Zealand residents going overseas for less than 12 months — to October 2009.)