New Zealand tourism is standing strong. International visitor arrivals to the country have been maintained with 2.63 million arrivals, increasing the total arrivals by 5.6 per cent for the year-ending July 2012.

Tourism New Zealand’s Chief Executive Kevin Bowler suggests the increase shows the industry’s resilience during what is traditionally a low season.

“While total arrivals for the month of July 2012 were down 1.4 per cent, there continues to be positive indicators from key markets with arrivals from China up 24.9 per cent and Australia up 0.4 per cent.”

Tourism New Zealand’s strategy focuses on growing total visitor stay days. The figures stack up. Over 50.6 million stay days were generated by international arrivals, an increase of 1.2 per cent against the same year prior.

“With over 12 million stay days, Australian visitors accounted for 24 per cent of total stay days in the last year. As the largest single proportion of total stay days, this reiterates the importance of this market to the New Zealand tourism industry.”