The Kiwi overseas travel boom shows no sign of slowing with the number of trips higher in Mar than pre-pandemic.
Stats NZ found that Aucklanders and Wellingtonians travel overseas more than those in other regions, with a further breakdown of the data showing which local authority area they are likely to come from.
. . . Regional Travel
Stats NZ has also calculated New Zealand residents averaged 57 international trips for every 100 people in the year to Mar. This compared with 62 trips per 100 residents in the Mar 2019 year, before the pandemic.
Among New Zealand’s 16 regions, residents of Auckland and Wellington typically take more than the national average number of international trips.
Auckland region residents averaged 75 trips per 100 residents, followed by Wellington region residents who averaged 59 trips per 100 residents. The least likely to travel are West Coasters who averaged 30 trips per 100 residents. This was behind residents of the Gisborne region and Southland region with 31 trips per 100 residents and 32 trips per 100 residents, respectively.
. . . Aucklanders Top?
Auckland local board areas held nine of the top 10 highest overseas trip rates in the Mar 2025 year.
This is across New Zealand’s 67 territorial authorities and 21 Auckland local board areas, which are below the regional level.
They were led by residents of Ōrākei (124 trips per 100 residents), Waitematā (118 trips per 100), and Devonport-Takapuna (101 trips per 100). Queenstown-Lakes District residents had the fifth highest rate, averaging 90 trips per 100 residents, and was the only area outside of the Auckland local board areas in the top 10. By comparison, the lowest overseas trip rates were for residents of Kawerau District (18 per 100 residents), Wairoa District (20 per 100), and the Chatham Islands (24 per 100).
. . . Three Million Plus
The migration figures also show that Kiwis arrived back from 3.01 million short-term overseas trips (of less than 12 months) in the Mar 2025 year.
That is said to be the first annual period to exceed three million arrivals by New Zealand-resident travellers since Mar 2020 (3.05 million as Kiwi travellers surged back before borders closed), and was up from 2.84 million in the Mar 2024 year.
“The number of short-term overseas trips by New Zealand residents climbed 6% in the Mar 2025 year, compared to the year before,” says Stats NZ international travel spokesperson Sarah Drake.
The increase was mainly driven by more trips to Australia, as well as Indonesia (Bali), China, and Japan which remains a hot destination for holidaymakers.
. . . Mar Arrivals Up
The total number of New Zealand-resident traveller arrivals in Mar 2025 was 105% of the 195,000 in March 2019 (a year before C-19 hit), shows the data.
Of the 205,000 New Zealand-resident traveller arrivals in Mar 2025 48% were from Australia (compared with 52% in Mar 2019); 7% from India (up from 5%); 6% from the US (flat); and 5% from both China and Fiji, which also had the same share of the market as in Mar 2019.
