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.

Chinese tourist numbers were down by 18,400 compared to the same time last year, and Stats NZ attributed that to the timing of the Chinese New Year.

This year, the Chinese New Year began on January 29 but last year it started on February 10.

“Monthly arrivals from China typically peak in January or February each year, depending on the timing of the Chinese New Year,” Stats NZ added.

The total number of overseas visitor arrivals in February this year was 85% of the number recorded in February 2019, before the Covid pandemic.

Of the 354,400 overseas visitor arrivals in February this year, 33% were from Australia and 18% were from the US.

Across the year to the end of February, overall visitor numbers were up to 3.35 million, an increase of 240,000 from the prior year.

New Zealand across the year attracted more tourists from Australia, China, the UK, the US, Japan and Taiwan.

“The 379,000 overseas visitor arrivals from the United States in the February 2025 year was a record for any year from that country,” Stats NZ said.

The US was the second-largest source of overseas visitor arrivals in the year, after Australia.

Infometrics economists today said tourism arrivals were up 7.8% in the three summer months, compared to a year before.

Infometrics said despite the slight slowdown in overall February arrival numbers, Queenstown and Christchurch Airports both recorded year-on-year increases in arrivals, up 3.5% and 1.3% respectively.

The strong US arrival numbers were partly attributed to a weak New Zealand dollar.

“Although the US is our second-largest tourism market behind Australia, recent strength may not persist given economic instability in the world’s largest economy.”

The current trade war made the outlook for tourism arrival numbers uncertain, Infometrics said.

The economists said global growth expectations for 2025 and 2026 were expected to be slower than historical levels at around 2.5% a year.

But escalating trade protectionism may lead to slower growth in New Zealand’s key tourism markets, meaning lower future arrival numbers, Infometrics added.

Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon said relative to the year before Covid, US visitor numbers were running more than 20% higher.

Gordon said other key sources such as Australia, Japan and the UK had not yet fully recovered but were gaining momentum.

This afternoon, Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston announced a $13.5m advertising boost aimed at enticing visitors from China, Australia, the US, India, Germany and South Korea.

Upston said the campaign would generate an estimated 23,000 or more additional international visitors and an extra $100 million in spending.

“We have encouraging signs coming through from our ‘Everyone Must Go!’ campaign focused on Australia, but we won’t stop there,” the minister said.

The campaign Upston referred to was launched in February.

Labour Party tourism spokeswoman Cushla Tangaere-Manuel at the time said the new campaign slogan sounded like a clearance sale.

Hospitality New Zealand today welcomed the $13.5m investment.

“Attracting more international visitors will mean more people experiencing Kiwi hospitality, which is especially important during the traditionally quieter off-peak periods,” Hospitality NZ chief executive Steve Armitage said.