Tourists keep coming

Statistics New Zealand has released figures which show the number of overseas visitors arriving in New Zealand for short term stays has topped 2.5 million for the first time in the past 12 months. “This milestone was almost reached in 28, but the global economic downturn contributed to a decline in visitor numbers after a peak of 2.497 million in the March 28 year,” Population Statistics manager Bridget Hamilton-Seymour said. Visitor arrivals from Australia in June were up 7 per cent from a year earlier to 76,2, while combined arrivals from China, Japan and South Korea were up 69, or 86 per cent, after the influenza H1N1 pandemic affected numbers travelling from those countries in June 29.