05 February 2009
BisinessDay.co.nz
A 4.6 percent fall in domestic travel spending in the year to September is being blamed on high fuel costs and economic uncertainties.
Ministry of Tourism figures published today showed New Zealanders spent $7.6 billion on travel within this country in the September year, compared to $8b the previous year.
"Uncertain economic conditions and high fuel costs during this period have shown through in the softening of domestic travel," ministry research manager Bruce Bassett said today.
Ebbs and flows in the industry were a natural response to the changing factors New Zealanders considered when planning their travel.
For instance, during the period outbound trips by New Zealand residents were up by 2 percent as exchange rates favoured offshore rather than domestic travel, Mr Bassett said.
Domestic tourism remained a substantial and powerful economic driver for this country.
The domestic travel survey, of 15,000 New Zealand residents undertaken by phone during the year, also showed a 10 percent fall in the number of trips to 40.4m.
Day trips fell 11.5 percent to 26m and overnight trips were down 7 percent to 14.4m.
Source: Click HERE
Data and reports from the survey are available on the Ministry of Tourism’s research website: www.tourismresearch.govt.nz/dts
