International Travel 14 April

International travel covers the number and characteristics of overseas visitors and New Zealand resident travellers (short-term movements) entering or leaving New Zealand.

Key facts

Monthly arrivals - overseas visitors
Monthly arrivals - New Zealand-resident travellers
Annual arrivals
Border crossings

Monthly arrivals - overseas visitors

Overseas visitor arrivals were 408,100 in February 2026, an increase of 53,700 from February 2025. The biggest changes were in arrivals from:

• China (up 41,700)
• Australia (up 6,500)
• Taiwan (up 6,100)
• United Kingdom (up 1,400)
• Hong Kong (up 1,400)
• United States (down 7,600)
• Korea (down 1,200).

The increase in overseas visitor arrivals from China in February 2026 compared with February 2025 partly reflects the timing of the Chinese New Year. The Chinese New Year began on 17 February in 2026, and 29 January in 2025. Monthly arrivals from China typically peak in January or February each year, coinciding with the timing of the Chinese New Year.

The 61,100 overseas visitor arrivals from China in February 2026 was the highest for a month since the record 68,900 in February 2018.

There were 86,100 overseas visitor arrivals from China in January and February 2026 combined. This compares with 55,200 in the same period in 2025, and a record 106,200 in 2018.

Since November 2025, as part of a 12-month trial, eligible Chinese passport holders travelling to New Zealand from Australia no longer need a New Zealand visitor visa.

Visa free travel from Australia to New Zealand for Chinese visitors has more information.

The total number of overseas visitor arrivals in February 2026 was 98 percent of the 417,900 in February 2019 (before the COVID-19 pandemic).

Of the 408,100 overseas visitor arrivals in February 2026:

• 31 percent were from Australia (compared with 30 percent in February 2019)
• 15 percent were from China (12 percent in February 2019)
• 14 percent were from the United States (13 percent in February 2019)
• 8 percent were from the United Kingdom (9 percent in February 2019)
• 3 percent were from Canada (3 percent in February 2019)
• 3 percent were from Germany (4 percent in February 2019)
• 3 percent were from Taiwan (2 percent in February 2019).

Monthly arrivals - New Zealand-resident travellers

New Zealand-resident traveller arrivals were 189,900 in February 2026, a decrease of 17,400 from February 2025. The biggest changes were in arrivals from:

• Philippines (up 1,000)
• China (down 8,200)
• Australia (down 2,900)
• United States (down 1,600)
• Fiji (down 1,200)
• Malaysia (down 1,200)
• Cook Islands (down 1,000)
• Samoa (down 1,000).

The total number of New Zealand-resident traveller arrivals in February 2026 was 99.6 percent of the 190,600 in February 2019 (before the COVID-19 pandemic).

Of the 189,900 New Zealand-resident traveller arrivals in February 2026:

• 41 percent were from Australia (compared with 44 percent in February 2019)
• 10 percent were from India (7 percent in February 2019)
• 8 percent were from China (10 percent in February 2019)
• 4 percent were from Fiji (4 percent in February 2019)
• 4 percent were from Japan (2 percent in February 2019)
• 4 percent were from the Philippines (2 percent in February 2019).

Annual arrivals

Overseas visitor arrivals were 3.58 million in the February 2026 year, an increase of 229,000 from the February 2025 year. The biggest changes were in arrivals from:

• Australia (up 123,000 to 1.54 million)
• China (up 47,000 to 293,000)
• Taiwan (up 13,000 to 62,000)
• United Kingdom (up 11,000 to 197,000).

New Zealand-resident traveller arrivals were 3.11 million in the February 2026 year, an increase of 108,000 from the February 2025 year. The biggest changes were in arrivals from:

• Australia (up 77,000 to 1.3 million)
• Japan (up 14,000 to 93,000)
• China (up 14,000 to 168,000)
• Philippines (up 10,000 to 62,000)
• India (up 10,000 to 116,000)
• United States (down 16,000 to 150,000)
• Fiji (down 10,000 to 203,000).

Border crossings

There were 1.18 million border crossings in February 2026, made up of 611,100 arrivals and 565,800 departures. In February 2025 there were 1.11 million border crossings.

February 2026 border crossings were 99 percent of the 1.19 million in February 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Digital arrival card

A digital arrival card (New Zealand Traveller Declaration - NZTD) became available to travellers entering New Zealand from mid-July 2023, alongside the existing paper arrival card. Christchurch and Wellington airports were the first to use the NZTD, followed by Queenstown airport in late July 2023 and Auckland airport in late August 2023.

Data from July 2023 onwards therefore includes a growing proportion of digital responses. In February 2026, 7 in 10 of all traveller arrivals completed the digital NZTD.

The implementation of the NZTD has no impact on the range of statistical information available to international travel and migration customers.

Early and provisional international travel data

Each week, Stats NZ releases early and provisional international travel statistics - International travel (provisional) - to facilitate analysis of New Zealand's inbound and outbound tourism sectors.

This includes:

• weekly travel data for short-term overseas visitor and New Zealand-resident arrivals
• arrivals and departures data based solely on border crossings into and out of New Zealand
• stock estimates of visitors in New Zealand and New Zealand residents travelling overseas, based on arrivals and departures.

More data

Use Infoshare to access time-series data for international travel and migration:

Subject category: Tourism
Group: International travel and migration - ITM

Definitions and metadata

International travel - DataInfo+ gives general methodology used to produce international travel and migration statistics.

International travel concepts - DataInfo+ gives definitions of terms used in this release.

Subnational short-term NZ-resident arrivals - DataInfo+ gives methodology for determining the New Zealand-location information in short-term New Zealand-resident arrival records.

Technical enquiries

Joanna Moon
[email protected]

ISSN 2624-2710

Next release

International travel: March 2026 will be released on 14 May 2026.