No international passengers will arrive in New Zealand today for the first time in decades.
Air New Zealand planes parked up at Auckland Airport two during the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Supplied / Air New Zealand
The only planned international flight from Tonga to Auckland was cancelled.
Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts said it was a symbolic day.
"We've talked about international visitation falling to zero, well now it has precisely done that," Roberts said.
"Tourism is going to be the last industry to recover from this crisis, and we know that recovery is a three to five year recovery horizon.
"It will be the longest recovery for any sector in the country. We've clearly hit the bottom today so the only way is up, it can only get better from here."
Hundreds of passengers were expected to arrive tomorrow, he said.
There were still some domestic passengers today, with Air New Zealand confirming 175 passengers were booked to fly domestically using the airline on 14 flights.
The airline usually operated more than 400 domestic flights a day prior to the pandemic.