Border crossings take off in 2022

Close to 5.6 million people crossed the New Zealand border in 2022, well up on 0.8 million in 2021, Stats NZ said today.

"Border crossings in 2021 were the lowest for a calendar year since 1971," population indicators manager Tehseen Islam said. "The 2019 year was the highest ever for international travel numbers, with over 14 million border crossings."

There were 2.8 million arrivals and 2.7 million departures in 2022, compared with 398,600 arrivals and 427,800 departures in 2021.

As COVID-19-related border restrictions were gradually eased from early 2022, border crossing numbers increased nearly every month throughout the year. Border crossings in January and December 2022 were 3 percent and 66 percent, respectively, of the crossings in the same months in 2019 (before COVID-19).

Border crossings include all arrivals and departures, either for short-term trips or longer-term migration, by people living overseas or in New Zealand.

Overseas visitor numbers jump in late 2022

There were 1.43 million overseas visitor arrivals in 2022. The majority of these arrivals were in the last three months of the year. By December 2022, monthly visitor arrivals had rebounded to 68 percent of their level in December 2019.

Overseas visitors are people living overseas, and who are in New Zealand for less than 12 months, and include New Zealand and non-New Zealand citizens.

Australia remained the main source of overseas visitors in 2022, with 3 in every 5 (825,700) from there. Before COVID-19, 2 in every 5 overseas visitor arrivals were from Australia.

"Restrictions on travel between Australia and New Zealand were some of the first to be relaxed from early 2022, and this gave Australians a head-start over other countries in visiting New Zealand," Islam said.

The United States (109,900) and United Kingdom (87,500) were the next largest sources of overseas visitors in 2022.

Visitors from China remained well down in 2022, with 16,900 arriving compared with 407,100 in 2019 (the second largest source of overseas visitors that year).

New Zealand resident traveller arrival numbers lift

New Zealand resident travellers returned from 1.32 million short-term (less than 12 months) overseas trips in 2022. The majority of these arrivals were in the last five months of the year. By December 2022, monthly arrivals of New Zealand resident travellers had returned to 65 percent of their level in December 2019.

Over half a million, or 44 percent, of trips were made to Australia, down on the 1.28 million in 2019.

Fiji (131,100) and the Cook Islands (90,300) were the next biggest destinations for New Zealand resident travellers in 2022.