International Visitor Survey results

What did we find?

• 52% of all international visitors to New Zealand visited one or more national parks in the year ending March 2020 (Table 1), meeting DOC’s 2025 stretch goal that ‘50% of international holiday visitors come to New Zealand to connect with our natural places’.
• On average, international visitors who visited a national park spent more money than those who did not (Figure 1).
• Increases in international visitor numbers appeared to be higher among those who visited national parks (Figure 2), with particularly high growth rates for visitors from Asia (Figure 3).
• All 13 national parks have exhibited growth, with particularly high growth rates in some of the parks with the lowest visitation rates (e.g. Rakiura, Kahurangi) as well as two of the most visited parks (Aoraki/Mt Cook and Fiordland) (Figure 4).

• Figures
• Table

Figure 1: Average total spend by visitors who did and did not visit a national park by country group and purpose of visit for the period from 1 July 2013 (when the new International Visitors Survey began) to 31 March 2020.

Figure 2: Numbers of international visitors categorised by whether they visited a national park.

Figure 3: Counts of international visitors who did and did not visit a national park for selected country groups (quarterly estimates).

Figure 4: Number of international visitors by national park (quarterly estimates).

Table 1: International visitors by purpose of visit for the year ending 31 March 2020 showing the proportion that visited a national park, and the total expenditure and proportion of spend by these national park visitors.

Purpose of visit	Total visitors (000)	Proportion that visited a national park	Total spend ($billions)	Proportion of spend contributed by those who visited national parks
Holiday/vacation	1,648	68%	7.0	76%
Visit friends/relatives	910	40%	2.2	52%
Other	647	30%	2.2	51%
All	3,205	52%	11.5	66%