ASIA Travel Tips.com

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New Zealand's latest visitor arrivals figures show a 3.3% decline in international visitor arrivals for October 2008 compared with the same month last year.

Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive George Hickton said that because of falling consumer confidence there is likely to be a drop of more than 10% in visitor numbers over the summer compared to the same period in 2007.

"This economic situation is not something we can control, but what we can control is our reaction to the situation and to try and maximise any benefits where we can find them," Mr Hickton said.

One initiative to try and boost UK visitors is the Rugby Ball Venue which opens in London on Tuesday (25 November) and is a further phase of the new $7.3 million UK campaign, which was launched in September.

"We may not be able to grow visitor numbers from the UK in the current climate, but it is important to position New Zealand’s brand strongly so that we can come out of this situation with a bigger market share than when we went in," Mr Hickton added.

Highlights of International Visitor Arrivals October 2008:

• Australia - 71,760, up 0.1% 
• UK - 17,976, down 2.3% 
• US - 14,280, down 12.4% 
• Canada - 3480, up 5.1% 
• China - 6552, down 31.5% 
• Korea - 5880, down 17% 
• Japan - 6720, down 15.1%

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