Proof Covid stole winter holidays
Kiwi travellers’ overseas spending in the September quarter fell almost $1.7 billion as Covid-19 put the brakes on winter holidays.
Statistics NZ said spending by New Zealand travellers and students while overseas dropped 84 per cent to $324 million, compared with nearly $2b for the same period in 2019.
International statistics senior manager Peter Dolan said that historically, Kiwis took more overseas trips to escape the winter, and the low numbers this year coincided with New Zealanders spending more on nesting at home, buying things like furniture and hardware.
There was also a marked change in where travellers spent the most, switching from Australia and the US, to China and India. Dolan said this shift in spending patterns was mainly driven by personal travellers.
Although New Zealand businesses stood to gain from the lack of outbound travel as Kiwis splashed their cash at home, the border closure still had an impact.
In the September quarter there were around 112,000 visitors in New Zealand, about 30,000 fewer than a year ago, and spending by overseas visitors and students fell by half to $1.5b for the quarter.
‘‘In the first half of 2020, education travel exports held up, as many students had arrived before the March border closure and lockdown, but as we headed into semester two at the start of the September quarter, spending by students fell,’’ Dolan said. ‘‘The border remained closed to most people aside from New Zealand citizens or permanent residents, so it may be that students due to start their studies in the second half of the year were unable to get in.’’