Overseas visitor arrivals down in February but US tourists break record

Overseas visitor arrivals were down in February compared to the same time last year. Statistics NZ recorded 354,400 arrivals in the month, a decrease of 8400 from February 2024, which had one extra day with the leap year and a later start to the Chinese New Year. But there were substantial increases this year in visitors from the US, Australia and the UK.

“There were 63,700 overseas visitor arrivals from the United States in February 2025, which is a record for any month from that country,” Stats NZ said today. Visitor numbers from several major Asian markets, especially China, were down compared to February 2024..