New Zealand Visitor Arrivals Fall In February

Visitor arrivals in New Zealand decreased from last year in February, data released by Statistics New Zealand showed Wednesday.

The number of foreign visitor arriving in the country decreased by 3 percent annually to 259,100 in February.

The number of arrivals from Hong Kong and China decreased during the month, owing mainly to the earlier Chinese New Year. There was decline in visitors from the United Kingdom and Japan also. Meanwhile, the number of visitor from Australia increased during the month.

"Visitor arrivals decreased despite February having an extra day this year," Population Statistics manager Andrea Blackburn said. "The decrease was partly due to the Chinese New Year holiday period being in January in 2012 as opposed to February in 2011."

At the same time, foreign trips by New Zealand residents increased 12 percent year-on-year to 116,400 in February, the agency said.