Kiwis return to skies as US travel warning added
Kiwis are rediscovering their wings and returning to international travel, though their government government is cool on citizens visiting the United States.
New Zealanders took three million short-term overseas trips in the year to March 2025, hitting that benchmark for the first time since the pandemic, data from Stats NZ shows.
Almost half of those trips were to Australia (1.2 million), ahead of Fiji (212,000) and China including Hong Kong (173,000).
With 169,000 trips, the US was next on the list of destinations despite a growing list of stories involving arbitrary detention or searches following tougher border control under President Donald Trump's administration.
Last week, the New Zealand government updated its advice to Kiwi travellers, including a warning of these practices.
Unlike Australian advice, which places the US on the baseline level of "exercise normal safety precautions", New Zealand has the US on a slightly elevated level of "exercise increased caution".
Perhaps with an eye to that advice, the number of Kiwis heading to the US has remained flat in the last year, compared to increased visitation of other countries.
Travel to Asia up 21 per cent with the boom led by a jump in people visiting Indonesia (up 57 per cent).
At the same time as Kiwis up their travel, fewer migrants are arriving.
Similar to Australia, New Zealand welcomed an unprecedented surge in migrants in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, but net migration has dropped to its lowest levels since 2022.
"The net migration gain of 26,400 in the March 2025 year was well down from a gain of 100,400 in the March 2024 year," Stats NZ spokesperson Sarah Drake said.
There were 150,000 migrant arrivals in the last 12 months, and 123,000 heading for the exit door - a provisional record.
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