Border crossings take off in 2022

Close to 5.6 million people crossed the New Zealand border in 2022, well up on 0.8 million in 2021, Stats NZ said today.

"Border crossings in 2021 were the lowest for a calendar year since 1971," population indicators manager Tehseen Islam said. "The 2019 year was the highest ever for international travel numbers, with over 14 million border crossings."

There were 2.8 million arrivals and 2.7 million departures in 2022, compared with 398,600 arrivals and 427,800 departures in 2021.

As COVID-19-related border restrictions were gradually eased from early 2022, border crossing numbers increased nearly every month throughout the year. Border crossings in January and December 2022 were 3 percent and 66 percent, respectively, of the crossings in the same months in 2019 (before COVID-19).

Border crossings include all arrivals and departures, either for short-term trips or longer-term migration, by people living overseas or in New Zealand.

Overseas visitor numbers jump in late 2022

There were 1.43 million overseas visitor arrivals in 2022. The majority of these arrivals were in the last three months of the year. By December 2022, monthly visitor arrivals had rebounded to 68 percent of their level in December 2019.

Month-YearOverseas visitor arrivalsOverseas visitor departures
Dec-2017513349358750
Jan-2018379228489650
Feb-2018423456410212
Mar-2018388327419846
Apr-2018283910362422
May-2018222079257259
Jun-2018212245204327
Jul-2018250523249536
Aug-2018246682260998
Sep-2018258155221331
Oct-2018283568282564
Nov-2018385789329886
Dec-2018529255361347
Jan-2019399346507744
Feb-2019417934407825
Mar-2019378270435704
Apr-2019307409344579
May-2019219331247305
Jun-2019213536202201
Jul-2019255585244005
Aug-2019251131264464
Sep-2019261770225448
Oct-2019283834271608
Nov-2019372108322844
Dec-2019528219367083
Jan-2020410778507334
Feb-2020372745375514
Mar-2020175521288168
Apr-2020172127362
May-202021897174
Jun-202035219944
Jul-2020348110851
Aug-202047827612
Sep-202055198028
Oct-202050735695
Nov-202051164680
Dec-202059044865
Jan-202154484708
Feb-202152974277
Mar-202146394635
Apr-20213193114139
May-20215760560561
Jun-20215159047134
Jul-20213020940337
Aug-202126767298
Sep-202123101884
Oct-202136872130
Nov-202153093478
Dec-202161613615
Jan-202240334702
Feb-202252354020
Mar-20222862412812
Apr-20225430344517
May-20227275565032
Jun-20229464873729
Jul-2022134175129310
Aug-2022129753130716
Sep-2022151270127062
Oct-2022161631144542
Nov-2022231313182265
Dec-2022359855198874

Overseas visitors are people living overseas, and who are in New Zealand for less than 12 months, and include New Zealand and non-New Zealand citizens.

Australia remained the main source of overseas visitors in 2022, with 3 in every 5 (825,700) from there. Before COVID-19, 2 in every 5 overseas visitor arrivals were from Australia.

"Restrictions on travel between Australia and New Zealand were some of the first to be relaxed from early 2022, and this gave Australians a head-start over other countries in visiting New Zealand," Islam said.

The United States (109,900) and United Kingdom (87,500) were the next largest sources of overseas visitors in 2022.

Visitors from China remained well down in 2022, with 16,900 arriving compared with 407,100 in 2019 (the second largest source of overseas visitors that year).

New Zealand resident traveller arrival numbers lift

New Zealand resident travellers returned from 1.32 million short-term (less than 12 months) overseas trips in 2022. The majority of these arrivals were in the last five months of the year. By December 2022, monthly arrivals of New Zealand resident travellers had returned to 65 percent of their level in December 2019.

Over half a million, or 44 percent, of trips were made to Australia, down on the 1.28 million in 2019.

Fiji (131,100) and the Cook Islands (90,300) were the next biggest destinations for New Zealand resident travellers in 2022.

Month-YearNew Zealand resident traveller arrivalsNew Zealand resident traveller departures
Dec-2017167066300242
Jan-2018316840173745
Feb-2018176835151061
Mar-2018183140211316
Apr-2018235936243348
May-2018231669249871
Jun-2018244680288529
Jul-2018345136326481
Aug-2018284801279902
Sep-2018278617291060
Oct-2018326229262823
Nov-2018221845244605
Dec-2018174279322734
Jan-2019320945195351
Feb-2019190597165118
Mar-2019194989213351
Apr-2019243302276275
May-2019235169274598
Jun-2019257310301515
Jul-2019340250331705
Aug-2019284520288594
Sep-2019279754304370
Oct-2019326409279372
Nov-2019233660248020
Dec-2019194522347159
Jan-2020326341201771
Feb-2020190541155489
Mar-202013672189625
Apr-202040354613
May-202026263057
Jun-202044745053
Jul-202031077539
Aug-202032956831
Sep-202027237795
Oct-202029277801
Nov-202024688930
Dec-2020263512540
Jan-202135929150
Feb-202130338997
Mar-202128579983
Apr-20211008424732
May-20212901937622
Jun-20212963843062
Jul-20213651735562
Aug-20211339815215
Sep-202132105971
Oct-202137797622
Nov-2021336412892
Dec-2021438822798
Jan-2022847517983
Feb-2022860420619
Mar-20223058847324
Apr-20226474197093
May-202290964110683
Jun-2022105110140411
Jul-2022165003195495
Aug-2022172269173836
Sep-2022170754186279
Oct-2022206323196060
Nov-2022175494189093
Dec-2022125630253267
/Stats NZ Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. Mirage.News does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s).View in full here.