Australia’s nearest neighbour welcomed 3,674,579 international short-term visitors between July 2025 and June 2026, representing a 94.3 per cent recovery of pre-pandemic visitor numbers, a one per cent improvement on the year to May, according to figures released by Stats NZ.
Visitors travelling to New Zealand to attend conferences were up by just shy of 10,000 people across the year, a 16.7 per cent increase compared to the year to June 2025, the biggest percentage rise of any visitor segment. Australian conference attendees were responsible for 59 per cent of the increase in meeting visitors with almost 5,900 more Australian delegates travelling to New Zealand during the year.
International delegates from further afield also posted significant proportional rises in terms of visitation.
The overall rise in international travellers across the year was 299,258, up 8.9 per cent, showing conference visitors are rising significantly faster than the average of other segments. Those travelling to New Zealand for a holiday were the next largest risers, up 15.3 per cent, while all other visitor segments rose by less than five per cent, with the exception of those travelling for education, who were collectively down by 3.6 per cent.
Tourism New Zealand notes the arrivals growth rate has nearly doubled from a year ago.
“A year ago, many commentators expected recovery to take until the second half of 2027,” said Tourism New Zealand chief executive René de Monchy.
“Reaching 3.7 million arrivals ahead of that timeframe shows the strength of New Zealand’s appeal and the impact of focused international marketing, aviation connectivity, industry partnerships and trade activity.
“Achieving 3.7 million arrivals gives New Zealand strong momentum as we look ahead.
“Tourism New Zealand remains focused on growing high-quality demand and supporting the sector to build towards 3.9 million arrivals and $14.4 billion in international visitor spend by June 2027.”
New Zealand previously achieved peak international visitation of 3.9 million travellers in October 2019.
