WELLINGTON, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Travel was New Zealand's largest services export and import for the September 2023 quarter, according to the statistics department Stats NZ on Monday.
Travel imports were 1.96 billion NZ dollars (1.22 billion U.S. dollars), and exports were 2.48 billion NZ dollars (1.54 billion dollars) in the September 2023 quarter, up from 1.4 billion NZ dollars (870 million dollars) and 1.65 billion NZ dollars (1.02 billion dollars), respectively, in the September 2022 quarter, Stats NZ said.
"The value of travel imports has exceeded that seen in the September 2019 quarter demonstrating a return to pre-COVID levels," Stats NZ international trade manager Alasdair Allen said.
There were 645,498 overseas visitors to New Zealand in the September 2023 quarter, or 84 percent of the 768,468 overseas visitors in the September 2019 quarter, Allen said.
There were 50,529 visitors from China in the September 2023 quarter, or 59 percent of the September 2019 quarter's total, he said.
Travel imports cover expenditure on both goods and services by New Zealand residents while overseas, such as holidaymakers, business travelers, and international students, according to Stats NZ.
Transportation had been New Zealand's top services import since the March 2020 quarter, driven by high costs of sea transportation. It was overtaken by travel in the September 2023 quarter, it said.
"Travel exports haven't returned to pre-COVID levels or seasonal patterns, but instead show an unseasonal uptick for the September quarter over June," Allen said.
Recent international events like the FIFA Women's World Cup, hosted jointly by New Zealand and Australia, may have provided a boost for both travel exports and imports, he said. ■
