Source: Statistics New Zealand
Tourism satellite account: Year ended March 2024 – 26 February 2025 – 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.
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