The latest International Visitor Survey (IVS) data is out today for the year to March and the numbers reinforce the significant contribution to the country’s economic well-being that tourism is making. Tourism earned $11.6 billion in YE March 2024 - flowing through our economy and supporting households, regions and communities across the motu. And we've got more to give because, inflation-adjusted, this represents 80% of the equivalent period in 2019.

In addition to valuable information on what our visitors spent, we can also see where they stayed, how they travelled and how long they were in Aotearoa. But what we loved seeing is the feedback on expectations. 96% of international visitors had their expectations met or exceeded - and given that most people have dreamed of their New Zealand holiday for some time, you can imagine that those expectations were already high. Exactly the kind of metric we want to see. Keep it up, team tourism!