With borders all-but closed to non-New Zealanders, spending by students and foreign visitors fell by half in the June quarter, according to Stats NZ. 

Spending on travel services has been a huge boost to the national economy in recent years, but when the pandemic hit, spending fell from about $3.6 billion to $1.8 billion. 

That category includes visitor spending on hotels, food, and travel within the country, along with course fees and rent paid by students.

“The border has been closed to new international visitors since March due to Covid-19 but spending by visitors did not stop because there were still tens of thousands of people already here,” international statistics senior manager Peter Dolan said.

Just before the lockdown in mid-March it was estimated there were 240,000–260,000 visitors in New Zealand, with that figure falling to between 90,000 and 120,000 in August.

“While travel follows a seasonal pattern, this is the lowest June quarter we’ve seen for travel exports since 2002, now at a similar level to fruit exports,” said Dolan.

Overall, services exports (including travel services) fell 41 percent in the June 2020 quarter compared with the June 2019 quarter.