Last year, 426 IFP pupils studied in Otago secondary schools.
In 2003, there were 703 IFP pupils in Otago, but numbers reached their lowest in 2006 when there were just 389.
During the past decade, the numbers have fluctuated wildly between 409 and 534, but they now appear to be stabilising with 438 recorded in 2014 and 421 in 2015.
Nationally, the numbers also hit a low point in 2006 with just 7204 IFP pupils in New Zealand schools, but since then the numbers have continued to increase, and this year reached 9408.
IFP pupils are an important source of income for schools because they have to pay tuition fees to study here.
It is estimated each international pupil contributes more than $30,000 to the local economy through school tuition, accommodation, school uniforms and school trips, as well as personal spending.
Parents of IFP pupils who come to visit, do the same through spending on flights, accommodation and other living expenses.
IFP pupils injected about $12.78million into the Otago economy this year.
Bayfield High School principal Judith Forbes said the $30,000 figure was a "conservative" estimate, and she believed in many cases IFP pupils could inject even more money into the local economy.
Mrs Forbes said much of the money brought into Bayfield by IFP pupils was used to pay for extra staffing.
But if IFP pupil numbers dropped too low, schools might not be able to provide extra teaching staff or extra learning opportunities for all pupils, she said.
Despite the region’s previous downward trend, Bayfield’s IFP numbers have remained consistently high.
She believed this was because the school had strong long-term relationships with agencies in other countries, and the school treated IFP pupils as people, not simply sources of revenue.
Overseas parents, pupils and their agents "shop around" when choosing a foreign school for their children to attend.
Mrs Forbes said it was important to provide good homestays, excellent pastoral care, good academic results and a wide range of opportunities.
Otago Secondary Principals’ Association secretary Gordon Wilson believed several factors influenced the figures.
He said the IFP market was "fickle" and fluctuated in cycles.
"It is an extremely competitive market and changes in the New Zealand dollar aren’t always helpful."
Mr Wilson said one of the major contributing factors was the struggling economies of source countries for IFP pupils — particularly Asia and parts of Europe.
If those economies were not doing well, parents were less likely to spend money sending their children to New Zealand for their education.
Another issue was Dunedin’s location, he said.
"Unfortunately, we have to do a lot of work to promote Dunedin as an education destination because it requires one, if not two stops, to get here.
"There are no direct flights to Dunedin. That is always a factor for international students. Therefore, Auckland and Christchurch clearly have an advantage."
Mr Wilson said the University of Otago, Otago Polytechnic, the Dunedin City Council and schools were working hard to promote Dunedin as a destination for education, from secondary leading into tertiary.
"There are a number of contributing factors, and all of us in Dunedin have got to continue to work hard to market Dunedin as an excellent educational destination, which we know it is.
"But we’ve got to convince those people in India, China, Germany and South America," Mr Wilson said.
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