Feeling a little crowded lately?

Statistics New Zealand has just announced that visitor arrivals to New Zealand were 2.501 million in the June 2010 year, the first time 2.5 million has been surpassed.
"This milestone was almost reached in 2008, but the global economic downturn contributed to a decline in visitor numbers after a peak of 2.497 million in the March 2008 year," Population Statistics manager Bridget Hamilton-Seymour said.

The 2 million visitor mark was reached in the November 2002 year, and the 1 million mark in the April 1992 year.

Visitors from Australia accounted for 1.119 million or 45 percent of all visitors in the June 2010 year. A further 25 percent of visitors came from four countries; the United Kingdom (248,900), the United States (194,000), China (105,200), and Japan (83,600).

Visitor arrivals in the June month were 145,800, up 8 percent from June 2009. There were more visitors from Australia, and visitor numbers from China, Japan, and Korea recovered after the H1N1 pandemic affected arrivals from those countries in June 2009. Fewer visitors arrived from the United Kingdom and the United States.

Statistics NZ also notes that net migration continues to decrease.

Net permanent and long-term migration (arrivals minus departures) was 100 (rounded figure) in June 2010, the lowest monthly figure since the series briefly went below zero in November 2008. This series has been decreasing steadily since January 2010 (1,800). On an unadjusted basis, there were 500 fewer arrivals of non-New Zealand citizens and 900 more departures of New Zealand citizens compared with June 2009.

The annual net migration gain was 16,500 in the June 2010 year, down from the recent peak of 22,600 in the January 2010 year. The main inflows of migrants were from the United Kingdom, India, and China. There was a net outflow of 15,900 migrants to Australia, well down from 28,700 in the June 2009 year.

The world comes to Ashburton

A report on newcomer and migrant issues in Ashburton was presented in September to around 130 people from a wide range of communities.

Kaumatua Wiremu Kora said mid-Canterbury was “like a big cultural melting pot.”. The purpose of the meeting was to present ideas on how to support and assist newcomers and to get feedback from the wider community. The report made 17 major recommendations for action on the basis of focus group discussions that were held from late 2007 and May 2009.

There were groups for ESOL learners, Romanian learning centre clients, Pacific secondary school students, Filipino farm workers, Samoan women, Chinese temporary residentsm and a number of other mixed and specific groups.

The report also contains valuable feedback from social service providers and employers, including a farming sector focus group which raised important issues facing migrant workers and their families in the rural sector.

For a copy of the report email Raewyn Barclay of Ashburton Safer Community Council.