Kiwis upset by stingy Aussie tourists

AUSSIE tourists might be heading across the Tasman in droves but, much to Kiwis' dismay, they're keeping their wallets firmly closed.

AUSSIE tourists might be heading across the Tasman in droves but, much to Kiwis' dismay, they're keeping their wallets firmly closed.

New figures from New Zealand's tourism ministry show Australians are the stingiest tourists to visit the Land of the Long White Cloud.

Australians are loving New Zealand more than ever before, with visitor numbers surging four per cent in the year to June.

But despite the influx of an extra 40,500 Australians, the 1.01 million total who visited spent 3.3 per cent less – down $NZ56 million ($45.34 million) – than Aussie tourists who visited the previous year.

The trend has perplexed Kiwi tourism officials who have pumped millions of dollars in targeted campaigns encouraging trans-Tasman holidays to counter flagging visits from long haul markets in hard economic times.

The problem, it seems, is that more Australians are coming to visit friends and relatives rather than to see the sights.

”A lot of Australians just come for a short stay,” said Ministry of Tourism head of research Bruce Bassett.

They're not wining and dining, shopping, booking into hotels or flying around the country at anywhere near the same rate as pure holiday-makers, he said.

Tourism executives puzzling over how to turn the trend around know the answer won't come from the country's latest Great Kiwi Invite campaign, which encourages New Zealanders to get even more friends and family visiting.

But Mr Bassett says that when it comes to tourism, it's the more the merrier.

The Australian market still underpinned the entire tourism industry and as a nation Aussies spent $1.637 billion of the total $6.016 billion in the year to June, he said.

New Zealand's overall tourism earnings dipped $NZ161 million ($130.36 million) in the past year.

Economist Shane Vuletich said that while this might seem a lot, it was considerably smaller than the impact predicted 12 months ago.

And while some sectors like the coach and tour markets were hurting, anyone serving the Australian and the domestic markets was “laughing”, he said.

UFOs: Blink and you’ll miss it footage

Luxury hotel: Family ‘stole hundreds of items’

In-depth: All the latest travel news

Follow our Twitter blog

Follow our travel editor and travel reporter’s Twitter blogs