Tourist visitors to New Zealand increased last month, but the number of people coming to live here is declining from record highs.
According to Statistics New Zealand, holiday visitors in May reached 193,600, a new May record and up 10% from May 2015.
And for only the second month on record, the number of holidaymakers from China outstripped the number from across the ditch, with 22,200 Chinese visitors and 20,200 Australians.
The only month this had previously occurred was January 2015.
Overall, the tourism sector continues to perform – the number of visitors in the year to May reached a record 3.29 million, an increase of 11% from the previous year. This was driven by large boosts in the number of visitors from China, Australia, and the USA.
However, the figures showed the number of people migrating to New Zealand had declined for the fourth month in a row.
Seasonally adjusted figures for May showed a net gain (more arrivals than departures) of 5,500 migrants in May. Since reaching a peak of 6,200 in November 2015, the seasonally adjusted net gain in migrants has averaged 5,700 a month.
While this decrease still leaves migration at historically high levels, a rapid fall over the next two years could spell danger for the economy.
NZ Herald business writer Liam Dann reported “Despite annual GDP growth coming in at a relatively healthy 2.4 per cent for the year to March, economist have noted that is underpinned by New Zealand's growing population.
“When population growth is factored in GDP per capita growth increased at just 0.1 per cent in the first quarter of the year. On that basis annual GDP growth per capita would be less than half a per cent.
“Migration doesn't look likely to fall off a cliff but if the trend continues then we will need other parts of the economy to fire up to avoid a significant slowdown.”