Border crossings have been slowly building, but January 2023 was the first month to see more than one million crossings since COVID, according to Statistics NZ.
The data shows a close split between arrivals and departures, with 514,100 coming into the country and 497,000 going out.
A Stats NZ spokesperson said the number of overseas visitors in January was still reduced at about two-thirds of the numbers for the same time pre-COVID.
Australia remained the main source of visitor arrivals in January 2023, with about two in every five people coming from there. This was followed by the United States (15 per cent) and the United Kingdom (10 per cent).
Visitor arrivals from China remained well down in January 2023, with 4,900 arriving compared with 50,300 in January 2020. The number of Chinese arrivals remain the most significant gap in New Zealand’s tourism’s recovery.
China airlines have signalled they will start to ramp up flights in coming months, with industry sources expecting that to increase again around the start of New Zealand’s 2023-24 summer season.