Business trips drive surge in New Zealand domestic travel

WELLINGTON, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- New Zealanders are traveling and spending more in their home country, making up for the leveling off in international travelers, according to government figures out Tuesday.

Domestic tourism spending rose by almost 1.5 billion NZ dollars (1.21 billion U.S. dollars), or 16 percent, to 10.4 billion NZ dollars in the year ending June, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Domestic Travel Survey showed.

Tourism research and evaluation manager Peter Ellis said in a statement that the increase in domestic travel spending was particularly strong for New Zealanders visiting friends and relatives and for business travel.

"The latest 12 months shows a continuing surge in spending on business trips, which rose by 21 percent to 3.5 billion NZ dollars, " said Ellis.

"For the last three quarters, spending on business trips has exceeded that of holidays-- something we've never seen before."

Ellis said the increase in domestic travel spending also reflected higher food and transport costs.

"Spending by domestic travelers on food and alcohol rose by 18 percent to 2.8 billion NZ dollars in the year ending June 2012, while transport costs rose 15 percent to 3.6 billion NZ dollars, most likely a result of higher petrol prices."

According to Statistics New Zealand, international visitor arrivals were down 2,500 to 173,500 in the year ending July, while New Zealand residents took 26,000 fewer overseas trips, leaving the country just 205,600 times.

Sourced: Xinhuanet