Tourism Set To Boom In Medium Term
October 16th, 2009
The importance of tourism and its business potential have been outlined in new figures from the Ministry of Tourism. They show international tourism expenditure (excluding airfares) is forecast to grow by an average of 4.7% a year to reach $8.2bn in 2015. This means inbound tourists will boost their spending by $2.3bn a year by 2015, or an increase of 38% from 2008 levels.
Not surprisingly, international tourism expenditure is expected to be soft in the short-term (down 2% in 2009), followed by a recovery in 2010 (up 4.5%). A larger increase in spending (up 9.1%) is forecast for 2011. The increase in this year will be influenced by a recovering global economy and New Zealand’s hosting of the Rugby World Cup. The Ministry says the longer term outlook for tourism remains very positive. International visitor arrivals are expected to increase by 2.5% a year, and their spending here will expand at the faster rate of 4.7% a year.
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