Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston said today $35 million was being invested in the first phase of a roadmap outlining what the sector needed to do to reach its goals.
They included returning to 2019 international visitor arrivals – 3.89 million by 2026 – and doubling the 2023 value of tourism exports by 2034 to roughly $19.8 billion with international visitor arrivals sitting around 4.78 million.
“International visitors bring billions of dollars into New Zealand, from big ticket spends to everyday purchases in local cafes and accommodation,” Upston said.
“We want to welcome more visitors to New Zealand, and we want our regional communities to improve their capacity to look after those visitors.”
About $35 million had already been announced for projects aimed at attracting more visitors, including international marketing, and $4 million to improve the visitor experience and reduce congestion along the Milford Road corridor to Milford Sound/Piopiotahi, she said.
“For the 2025/26 financial year, we’re investing $6 million in international marketing across emerging tourism markets (India and Southeast Asia), $3 million to increase the number of business events hosted in New Zealand, and an additional $5 million towards the major events fund.”
The government had faced criticism for seeking to attract more visitors without helping communities left who were already under-pressure from tourists, but Upston said that would change.
“Recent tourism funding has been about boosting visitor numbers. As those higher numbers become established, the roadmap will shift over time to focus more on supporting communities to look after them well.”
The international visitor levy (IVL), which was nearly tripled last year, was covering the costs, she said.
“The government must work with industry to unlock the full potential of our tourism sector and the roadmap lays out initiatives and investments to ensure our infrastructure, workforce and communities can support further growth.”
The roadmap was split into three sections looking at the short, medium and long-term and would be rolled out in stages with more details expected in the future.
Long-term goals for supporting the industry and communities included developing a skilled workforce, ensuring tourism infrastructure pressures were effectively managed, setting up regions and communities to manage and invest in tourism and make sure tourism funding was effectively in place.
Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Rebecca Ingram said the roadmap aligned well with the industry’s strategy and was looking forward to working with the government.
“We are thrilled to have a plan in place to support the tourism industry to grow its significant contribution to our economy, and help our industry to thrive.”
Hospitality New Zealand chief executive Steve Armitage said he was pleased to see the government intended to support the growth of tourism and hospitality, especially its goals for developing a skilled workforce and having competitive business settings.
“We are, however, disappointed to see that IVL contributions to tourism and conservation projects will be capped in 2025/26, with additional funds being used to subsidise existing government spend in areas such as funding for Tourism New Zealand,” he said.
“Our view is the IVL was conceived to generate funds for investment in tourism and conservation, over and above existing budget lines. Particularly when there is a focus on growing tourism arrival numbers, to use IVL funds on what should be taxpayer funded does little to resolve the nationwide tourism funding gap the industry is facing.”
