Tourism Satellite Account: Year Ended March 2024

Tourism satellite account (TSA) provides an overview of tourism's role in New Zealand, highlighting the changing levels and impact of tourism activity. It presents information on tourism's contribution to the economy in terms of expenditure and employment.

This release covers provisional figures for the year ended March 2024 and detailed results for 2023.

Key provisional estimates

For the year ended March 2024 (expressed in nominal terms):

• total tourism expenditure was $44.4 billion, up 14.6 percent ($5.6 billion) from 2023
• international tourism expenditure was up 59.9 percent ($6.3 billion) to $16.9 billion, returning to levels similar to 2019 ($17.2 billion)
  • international student expenditure (studying less than 12 months) was $3.8 billion, up 76.2 percent ($1.6 billion)
  • GST from international tourists totalled $1.7 billion, up $689 million
  • international tourism's contribution to total exports of goods and services was 17.2 percent, up 6.0 percentage points
• overseas visitor arrivals to New Zealand increased 44.8 percent to 3,183,376
• domestic tourism expenditure decreased 2.5 percent ($697 million) to $27.5 billion
  • household tourism expenditure decreased 5.8 percent ($1.3 billion)
  • business and government expenditure increased 8.4 percent ($559 million)
• tourism's direct contribution to GDP was $17.0 billion (4.4 percent of GDP), up 16.0 percent ($2.3 billion)
• indirect value added of industries supporting tourism was $11.7 billion (3.1 percent of GDP)
• the number of people directly employed in tourism was 182,727, up 13.5 percent (21,729 people)
  • the number of tourism employees was 159,030, up 13.3 percent (18,624 people)
  • the number of tourism working proprietors was 23,697, up 15.1 percent (3,102 people)
  • direct tourism employment as a share of the total number of people employed in New Zealand was 6.4 percent.

2024 data interpretation

The data sources used to derive figures for the March 2023 and 2024 years, at the industry, commodity, and resultant aggregate level, will be subject to future updates. These updates reflect post-COVID-19 methodological challenges and further assessment, and interpretation of the expenditure composition changes as part of the 2024 cycle of annual analysis and updated input datasets. Data presented in this TSA for these years should be considered initial guidance and may be subject to larger-than-usual updates.

Impact of emergency housing on accommodation expenditure

Accommodation expenditure in the March 2024 year continued to be affected by the use of traditional accommodation providers for emergency housing. In line with the definition of a tourist, emergency housing is not considered a tourism activity. While this expenditure is captured on the supply side, an allowance has been made to exclude it from the tourism demand side. As a result, accommodation product and industry ratios are historically lower, which flow through to tourism employment derivations. These derived numbers better reflect 'employees' engaged in tourism than those in accommodation industry entities servicing emergency housing.

Changes in tourism employment derivation

The derivation of tourism employment relies on the proportion of tourism expenditure relative to an industry's output, multiplied by that industry's employment counts. The substantial loss of international tourism expenditure, along with declines in some domestic tourism expenditure, COVID-19 impacts on industry output, and tourism's return to date has significantly changed these historically stable industry ratios. Employment counts across industries have also been affected. During COVID-19, some individuals classified as employed were supported by wage subsidy payments.

A basic example of the tourism derivation impact is shown in the table below for the air transport industry.

Based on this, users should interpret tourism employment as employment attributable to tourism, providing one perspective on overall employment that may differ from other measures.

Data updates

Information on data updates is now available on Tourism satellite account: Period-specific information - Datainfo+.

Results by topic

Tables containing detailed breakdowns of the results in this report are available under Download data.

Tourism expenditure

Total tourism expenditure increased 14.6 percent to $44.4 billion in the March 2024 year, after rising 42.2 percent in the March 2023 year.

Tourism expenditure generated $17.0 billion of direct value added, representing a 4.4 percent contribution to GDP. A further $11.7 billion of indirect value added activity was recorded (table 1).

Direct and indirect tourism value added, when combined, accounted for 64.7 cents for every dollar spent by tourists, while GST accounted for 9.3 cents for every dollar spent by tourists. The remainder represents imports (figure 1).

Figure 1

Tourism expenditure by type of tourist

International tourism expenditure increased 59.9 percent ($6.3 billion) in the March 2024 year, following a 445.6 percent ($8.7 billion) increase in the March 2023 year.

Domestic tourism expenditure decreased 2.5 percent ($697 million), following an 11.2 percent ($2.8 billion) increase in the previous year (table 2 and figure 2).

Figure 2

Exports

International tourism resumed being a significant export earner for New Zealand, compared with other traditional export products.

In the year ended March 2024, international tourism's contribution to total exports was $16.9 billion (17.2 percent of exports) (table 3 and figure 3).

Excluding international tourism, the total exports for goods and services decreased 2.9 percent ($2.4 billion) in the year to March 2024.

Figure 3

International student expenditure - studying less than 12 months

International tourism expenditure includes a component of international students studying in New Zealand for less than 12 months (consistent with the definition of a tourist). Their expenditure includes course fees, living costs, and airfares on resident airlines.

In the year ended March 2024, expenditure totalled $3.8 billion, an increase of 76.2 percent ($1.6 billion) (table 4 and figure 4). The number of short-term arrivals for education purposes (studying for less than 12 months) was 50,469, up 89.5 percent (23,841 students) (table 7).

Note that the calculation of international student expenditure for those studying less than 12 months differs from the calculation of education exports derived from balance of payments data, reflecting different conceptual approaches.

Figure 4

Employment

In the year ended March 2024, tourism directly employed 182,727 people (table 5 and figure 5), an increase of 21,729 people from the previous year.

Tourism activity directly generated 6.4 percent of total employment in New Zealand (table 5). This compares with tourism generating 4.4 percent of direct value added to GDP (table 1). The higher share of employment compared with GDP contribution reflects the labour-intensive nature of tourism industries.

A further 120,693 were indirectly employed in tourism, generating an additional 4.3 percent share of total employment. This was an increase of 11,109 people.

Figure 5

To further understand the impact of COVID-19 on tourism and its continued return, we provide a breakdown of direct tourism employment by industry for the provisional year (2024) with a comparison to 2023 and 2022 (table 6).

In percentage terms, the largest increases were recorded in the other transport, transport support, and travel and tour services, accommodation, and education and training industries while the largest increase in the number of people directly employed in tourism was in the accommodation industry.

The data sources used to derive these provisional figures will be subject to future updates. These figures should be considered initial guidance rather than finalised, definitive counts.

The provisional industry data is derived by applying employer monthly schedule and Household Labour Force Survey movements by industry to year ended March 2023 employee and working proprietors' data respectively sourced from linked employer-employee data.

From here, provisional tourism industry ratios for the year ended March 2024 - representing the proportion of tourism spend to industry output - are applied to these counts before aggregating to a total. Percentage changes are undertaken at the aggregate level.

Overseas visitor arrivals

Everyone who completes border clearance, whether arriving by air or sea, is counted in the arrivals/departures of international travel statistics. Transit passengers who do not complete border clearance are excluded from these statistics.

For cruise ship travellers, analysis from 2015 to 2020 shows that about three-quarters are transit passengers, meaning they are not included in international travel statistics. The remaining one-quarter enter or leave New Zealand by air before or after their cruise. These passengers complete border clearance and are therefore included in international statistics.

In the year ended March 2024, the number of international visitors was 3,183,376 an increase of 44.8 percent (984,303). This follows a more than an eight-fold increase in the number of international visitors in the previous year.

The number of visitors from Oceania increased 18.4 percent (227,932), following a 545.6 percent increase in the previous year. Visitor numbers from Asia increased 168.1 percent (419,428), Europe 25.9 percent (83,854), while visitors from the Americas increased 59.1 percent (177,659).

By purpose of visit, short-term visitor arrivals to New Zealand changes were recorded for the following categories:

• holiday - up 68.6 percent (599,854 arrivals)
• visiting friends and relatives - up 17.0 percent (146,815)
• conferences and conventions - up 83.4 percent (28,116)
• business - up 27.7 percent (42,928)
• education - up 89.5 percent (23,841).

Table 7 and figure 6 show a breakdown of international visitors by region of last permanent residence for the years ended March 2021-2024. The table also includes a breakdown by purpose of visit.

Figure 6

Table 8 presents the breakdown of international visitors by selected country of last permanent residence for the years ended March 2021-2024 .

Figure 7

The following shows the percentage increases in international visitors by selected country of last permanent residence, for the year ended March 2024:

• Australia - up 14.8 percent (166,502 arrivals)
• China - up 535.1 percent (177,468)
• United States of America - up 65.4 percent (148,717)
• United Kingdom - up 8.2 percent (12,904)
• Germany - up 37.9 percent (17,848)
• Japan - up 127.1 percent (33,552).

In the context of the TSA, the term 'tourist' includes travellers who may not typically be associated with the term. In addition to holiday and leisure travel, it covers other visitor activities, such as conducting business, attending meetings and conferences, and arriving for short-term education.

Domestic costs incurred by New Zealanders travelling overseas, such as booking fees or commissions paid to a travel agency, are included in domestic travel expenditure. Additionally, purchases of tourism-specific consumer durable goods (such as outdoor equipment) before or after a trip are also counted.

Table 9 presents the breakdown of guest nights by origin, sourced from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Accommodation Data Programme, for the years ended March 2022-2024 .

In the year ended March 2024, 39.9 million guest nights were spent in short-term commercial accommodation, an 11.4 percent increase compared with the previous year.

Figure 8

Tourism expenditure

The TSA primarily focuses on identifying and measuring tourism expenditure on goods and services produced within the New Zealand economy.

By determining tourism expenditure, tourism's direct contribution to GDP can be derived and compared with agriculture or manufacturing.

Table 10 shows that for the year ended March 2024:

• total tourism expenditure increased 14.6 percent, following an increase of 42.2 percent in 2023, and a 2.9 percent increase in 2022
• the largest changes in tourism expenditure were in
  • retail sales - other, up $977 million (13.5 percent)
  • food and beverage serving services, up $961 million (23.9 percent)
  • other tourism products, up $766 million (22.3 percent)
• GST paid on purchases by tourists increased $518 million (14.4 percent).

The main products tourists purchased were retail sales and passenger transport, which contributed 33.0 percent and 22.7 percent, respectively. Tourists spent 22.2 percent of their budget on accommodation, and food and beverage serving services. They spent 18.8 percent on other tourism products and services, and 3.3 percent on education services (figure 9 presents the share of tourism expenditure, excluding GST).

Figure 9

Table 11 presents tourism expenditure by type of product and by type of tourist for the years ended March 2021-2024. The tourism product ratio is the proportion of total supply (national production plus imports) of each product that tourists purchase.

For the year ended March 2024:

• total household tourism expenditure decreased 5.8 percent ($1.3 billion), following an increase of 4.4 percent the previous year
• the largest decreases in household tourism expenditure were in retail sales - other, down $387 million, cultural, recreation, travel, and tour services, down $178 million, and accommodation services, down $174 million
• business and government tourism expenditure increased 8.4 percent ($559 million), following an increase of 41.1 percent the previous year
• the largest increases in business and government tourism expenditure were in cultural, recreation, travel, and tour services, up $206 million from the previous year, air passenger transport up $109 million, and other passenger transport, up $63 million
• total spending by international tourists in New Zealand increased 59.9 percent ($6.3 billion), following an increase of 445.6 percent in the March 2023 year
• the largest increases in international tourism expenditure were in retail sales - other, up $1.4 billion, food and beverage serving services, up $1.0 billion, and accommodation services, up $801 million.

The biggest share of domestic demand was retail sales, at 35.8 percent, while international tourism's demand of retail represented only 28.3 percent of international spending. International tourists spent the remainder of their budget primarily on accommodation, and food and beverage serving services (28.8 percent), passenger transport (22.6 percent), other tourism products and services (15.4 percent), and education services (4.9 percent) (figure 10).

Figure 10

Detailed product and industry tables, year ended March 2023

Tables 18-25 (available under Download data) provide detailed insights into the tourism satellite account for the year ended March 2023, the latest year with balanced supply and use tables.

See:

• table 18: Tourism expenditure by type of product and type of tourist
• table 19: New Zealand System of National Accounts production accounts by industry
• table 20: Sales by type of product and industry
• table 21: Derivation of tourism product ratios
• table 22: Derivation of tourism industry ratios
• table 23: Derivation of direct tourism value added
• table 24: Direct tourism employment, by industry
• table 25: Gross fixed capital formation and net capital stock by industry.

More data

Use Infoshare for the tourism satellite account time series:

Subject category: Tourism
Group: Tourism satellite account - TSA

Definitions and metadata

Tourism satellite account - DataInfo+ outlines the methodology used to produce the tourism satellite account.

Technical enquiries

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Next release

Tourism satellite account: Year ended March 2025 - release date to be confirmed.