Feb 2025 proved to be the busiest Feb ever recorded for New Zealand-resident travel—and Asian destinations appear to be behind this spike in travel.
Some 207,300 Kiwis returned from an overseas trip in Feb, according to the latest Stats NZ data—which is at 109% of the levels seen in Feb 2019. Asia was driving the Feb growth. The number of India-bound Kiwis in Feb rose by 2400 year-on-year, making it the third most popular destination for the month under review—and accounting for 8% of Kiwi travel; not far behind was China at 11%. Stats NZ also notes numbers to Indonesia in Feb were up 1700, while Kiwi travellers returning from a trip to the Philippines rose by 1300and to Vietnam, by 1100. Looking ahead, trade sources contacted all believe that 2025 will be a strong year for Asia ‘despite the lack of a post C-19 Asia capacity bounce back’. While direct air capacity between New Zealand and Asia is down, there are some green shoots, like Vietjet’s planned launch on the Auckland-Ho Chi Minh route from Sep.
. . . Aussie Down
While Australia accounted for 30% of Kiwi travel in Feb, and is still the number one destination overall, Kiwi arrival numbers dropped 12,700 year-on-year for the month under review.
. . . The Year
New Zealand-resident traveller arrivals reached three million in the Feb 2025 year, an increase of 183,000 from the Feb 2024 year. Seeing significant rises over this time are Asian destinations once again, with Kiwi numbers to China up 34,000 to 154,000, to Indonesia up 31,000 to 89,000 and to Japan up 20,000 to 79,000. At the same time the Stats NZ figures shows overseas visitor arrivals in Feb were 354,400, a decrease of 8400 on Feb 2024 and just 85% of 2019 levels.
