For the first time since the February earthquake that hit Christchurch, more people arrived to live in New Zealand in August than left.

According to the latest Statistics New Zealand figures, in August there were 200 more permanent arrivals than departures as 7,129 people came here to live compared to the 6,834 that moved away.

In March, 510 more people left than arrived permanently, with between 120 and 350 more leaving than arriving every month since.

The 92,800 Australian visitors last month set a new August record, and equated to 4,800 more people travelling here from across the ditch than came a year earlier.

The number of visitors from the United States dropped 2,200 from August last year to 8,800, and the number of visitors from Japan and Korea also fell.

Only 1,200 of the Australians who have arrived since July said they were here for the Rugby World Cup, an equal number to the 1,200 fans who came here from the United Kingdom in the same period.

In August, 4,400 people arrived in New Zealand specifically for the Rugby World Cup, taking the total number of visitors who came here specifically for the tournament since July up to 5,600.

Of those, 2,100 came in the last week of August before the Cup's September 9 kick off.

When it came to Kiwis holidaying offshore, some 6 per cent more or 191,000 New Zealanders went on international trips in August than the same time last year, with more going to Australia but less visiting the United Kingdom.

Compared to August 2010, the number of Kiwis travelling to Australia last month was up by 4,500. There were 1,500 more people going to Thailand from New Zealand and 1,100 more going to Fiji the same month.

There was also an increase of New Zealanders travelling to India in August, up by 900 on last year, and 800 more  going Malaysia than a year earlier.

The number of people travelling to the United Kingdom dropped by 2,100 compared to the same month last year.

(Source Dominion Post, Jazial Crossley)