The figures for short-term visitors to New Zealand show an increase for the year ending in September 2013. In total, 2.67 million visitors came here, mostly on holiday. More visitors came from Australia than an other country – 1.2m. Visitors from China are increasing. During the year, about a quarter of a million people from China visited here. USA was the next country with 191,472 visitors. The population of New Zealand is about 4.5m so it’s easy to see that tourism is a major industry for a small population.
Migrant numbers also increased with 6,000 immigrants from the UK, 5,400 from China, 5,100 from India, 2,200 from the Philippines and 2,100 from Germany. About 4,000 of these migrants are skilled construction workers employed in Christchurch to rebuild the city after the earthquakes. Most migrants, however, stay in Auckland which is growing fast. This is one reason for the housing shortage in Auckland and the increase in house prices.
Vocabulary
- short-term (adj) – less than 12 months. (opposite: long-term)
- major (adj) – very important (opposite: minor)
- skilled (adj) – trained and experienced
- construction – building industry e.g. carpenters, electricians, plumbers etc
- shortage (n) – not enough, (short is adj)