RAROTONGA (Pacnews) — Cook Islands had a record year for tourism in 2006 with 92,082 visitor arrivals.
The provisional Cook Islands Tourism Corporation figures said this is up 4 percent on 2005 arrivals of 88,405 visitors. It included the highest visitor count on record for a December, with 9,463 arrivals.
Tourism Corporation chief executive Chris Wong said New Zealand numbers continued to show good growth overall with a 5 percent increase over 2005 at 43,179 arrivals excluding Cook Islanders resident in New Zealand). New Zealanders now account for 47 percent of total arrivals.
Wong explained the industry witnessed significant changes in visitor mix over the past five years. In 2001 Northern Hemisphere visitors accounted for 48 percent of total arrivals.
This was influenced largely by better access to those markets then with non-stop Air New Zealand Rarotonga/Los Angeles services and competition from Canada 3000 flights.
He said the growth of the New Zealand market has been helped by the advent of low-cost flights from both Air New Zealand and Pacific Blue, changes in aircraft types and increased frequencies and competition on the Auckland/Rarotonga route.
Wong said there has also been significant growth in the number of Cook Islanders resident overseas returning to visit friends and relatives, known as VFR traffic.
The number has more than doubled in the past five years with 10,524 Cook Islanders returning last year compared to 5,043 in 2001.
Wong said the Tourism Corporation was working hard to create a balance of visitors between the Northern and Southern Hemisphere markets. This was to ensure year-round visitor flows for the tourism industry.