Investing In New Zealand's Largest Export Earner

‘Visitors are attracted by New Zealand’s unique and beautiful landscapes, with more than half visiting a national park. It is therefore essential that visitor growth is environmentally sustainable, and that visitors enjoy a high quality experience.’

- Paula Bennett

It’s an interesting time for tourism in New Zealand. Recently we’ve seen unprecedented growth in visitor numbers. New Zealand’s tourism offering is second to none and this growth brings significant benefits to the country. Tourism is our largest export earner at $14.5 billion per year, and the industry directly employs about 188,000 people.

We’re still no Iceland or Ireland, with their very high tourist numbers, but with around 3.5 million visitors per year to our 4.6 million locals, we are starting to feel a bit of a pinch from the pressures that accompany growth.

Some of our regional communities need support to make the most of growth and meet the demands of higher visitor numbers. Meanwhile our most popular conservation sites are becoming a little crowded, by New Zealand standards.

There are two main ways we’re dealing with this. The first is to develop more and better infrastructure and the second is to try to spread our visitors across seasons and to more regions, easing pressure in certain spots at peak times. We recently announced a $178 million tourism infrastructure package.

A large chunk of this – $76 million over four years – will enable the Department of Conservation (DOC) to upgrade and develop tourist facilities on conservation land and to expand the Great Walks network.