A new kind of phenomenon has appeared in the way the New Zealanders travel. Data collected by the government has shown that the Kiwis went out on a record 2 million trips in the year till October.

50 per cent of these went to Australia for traveling and majority of them stayed back making the continent as their new home.

Data shows that the net migration was 12,600 in the past year and is higher than the long-term average. However, for October the figure was just 700 as more and more people left for Australia.

Statistics New Zealand says that the number this year is 4 per cent higher than the last year for the same period. Population Statistics manager Bridget Hamilton-Seymour said that such a large number of migration is happening for the first time.

In all these, Australia was the most popular destination. It was followed by Tasman where there were 966,400 trips. US, Fiji and Britain followed the rankings.

But what is worrying is that the net arrival of visitors dripped by 1 per cent. The reason given for the same are the school holidays.