International tourist visitor days

IBISWorld expects the total number of international tourist visitor days to increase by 3.4% during 2025-26, to 71.65 million days. This growth is far more modest than has been witnessed between 2020-21 and 2023-24, evidencing that international tourism is fast approaching the status quo. Growth in 2024-25 and 2025-26 has been driven primarily by strong increases in arrivals from China and Japan, which have outpaced those from other major source markets like Australia and the United States. The total number of international tourist visitor days is set to exceed pre-pandemic levels for the first time during 2025-26.

According to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (Hikina Whakatutuki), Australia is the biggest source of international visitor days. Australia's proximity to New Zealand and the abundance of relatively affordable flights between the two countries encourage Australians to travel to New Zealand. In the years leading up to the pandemic, China had overtaken the UK and the US as the second biggest market for inbound international tourism. Chinese visitor days increased strongly over the past decade, due to rising wealth in the country and the marketing efforts of Tourism New Zealand aimed at Chinese travellers. The UK and the US continue to be important inbound markets, as well as other developed Asian countries like South Korea and Japan.

The total number of international tourist visitor days has grown rapidly from 2020-21 to 2025-26, reflecting a recovery from the unusually low levels recorded in 2020-21. During the pandemic, the New Zealand Government (Te Kawanatanga o Aotearoa) implemented heavy restrictions on international arrivals to stop the spread of COVID-19, causing international visitor days to tank across the three years through 2021-22. Since borders have reopened, total international tourist visitor days have recovered strongly, as pent-up demand for travel has seen international tourism gradually return. Many travellers who returned after the pandemic stayed in New Zealand for extended periods of time, as some had been unable to visit family members for over two years, elevating the length of the average stay. As demand for initial revenge trips has come and gone, more traditional leisure, sightseeing tourists have started to visit New Zealand from foreign shores, boosting overall visitor arrivals, but reducing the average length of stay. Overall, IBISWorld forecasts the number of international tourist visitor days to grow at a compound annual rate of 79.9% over the five years through 2025-26.