Asian Markets Drive July Visitor ArrivalsDate Published: 20 August 2010 An additional 7,500 visitors from key Asian markets in July has helped offset declines from North America and Europe and taken New Zealand to a new monthly arrivals record. Statistics New Zealand arrivals figures out today showed that overall arrivals in July increased by almost 4 per cent (or 6,700 visitors) in July 2010, compared with the same month a year earlier. Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive Kevin Bowler said visitor arrivals from New Zealand's western long-haul markets remained soft, which was unsurprising given the ongoing economic uncertainty in the UK and US. However, arrivals from Asian countries including Japan, China and South Korea were in rapid growth, reflecting a recovery from last year's Influenza A H1N1 (Swine Flu) pandemic. "We are seeing an underlying softening trend in arrivals from our major western markets which is a concern; fortunately, steady growth from Australia and a recovery in Asian arrivals are currently helping to offset that," Kevin Bowler said. Arrivals from China in July 2010 marked all time high with 8,040 visitor arrivals; the second highest arrivals month was July 2007 (at 7,728). Tourism New Zealand this week released initial findings of new research into what drives offshore visitors to come to New Zealand. "Recently some of New Zealand's tourism marketing has started to position New Zealand as a somewhat intrepid and exotic place for a holiday, but this new research shows we are actually a fairly mainstream holiday destination competing with destinations such as Canada, the US, France, and Italy." Kevin Bowler said the research also showed that visitors wanted to see New Zealand as a friendly and accessible place to have a holiday; somewhere they could come to have fun and relax. "Nature and the environment remain at the heart of what sells a New Zealand holiday, but people also want to be reassured that they will be able to enjoy that natural environment in a more fun and accessible way than perhaps we've shown in the past," Kevin Bowler said. International Visitor Arrivals JUL10 : Australia 94,776 up 1.7% UK 9552 down 19.8% USA 11,712 down 13.1% China 8040 up 94.2% Japan 6480 up 73.9% Germany 3432 down 0.5% South Korea 5952 up 15.5% Canada 2496 down 4.0%
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