New Zealand Tourism Overtakes Dairy as Largest Export Industry
Tourism has overtaken the dairy industry as New Zealand’s biggest export industry as foreign visitor spending recovered and a drought curbed milk production, a government report showed.
Spending by foreign tourists rose 1.6 percent to NZ$9.54 billion ($7.1 billion) in the year ended March 31, Statistics New Zealand said in a report released in Wellington today. Exports of butter, cheese and milk powder fell 10 percent to NZ$8.97 billion, the agency said
Tourism spending is recovering after a revised 0.7 percent decline last year -- the first drop in a decade -- as the global financial crisis curbed travel. Exports make up 30 percent of New Zealand’s $125 billion economy.
Foreign visitors have been attracted by the mountains and rivers which formed the backdrop to the “Lord of the Rings” film trilogy. The report comes as Prime Minister John Key meets executives from Warner Bros. Productions Ltd. to convince them to film the two-part Rings prequel ‘The Hobbit’’ in New Zealand.
Tourism spending including domestic travelers increased 2.1 percent to NZ$22.42 billion and made up 8.7 percent of gross domestic product in the year ended March 31, from 8.8 percent a year earlier, the statistics agency said. Today’s report is the annual assessment of the contribution of tourism to the economy.
Employment in the tourism industry fell for a second year, declining 1.6 percent to the equivalent of 92,900 full-time positions, the report showed.
To contact the reporters on this story: Tracy Withers in Wellington at twithers@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net
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