The panoramic view of Maunt Maunganui resort town from the top of Mount Maunganui volcano (Tauranga, New Zealand). Photo: Ramunas Bruzas
Visitors from several Pacific Island territories will soon have to pay NZ$100 - around US$60 - to visit Aotearoa New Zealand.
The International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) was introduced by the Labour government in 2019, with funds raised to go toward maintaining public services and tourism sites.
This fee is now due to almost triple - from NZ$35 to NZ$100 from October.
Australian citizens and permanent residents and most Pacific island citizens are exempt; so are RSE workers and people with diplomatic, military, medical, and humanitarian visas.
But some do need to pay, including those coming from French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
When asked why these places were excluded from being exempt, a spokesperson for New Zealand's Tourism Minister Matt Doocey said the collection mechanism for the IVL - and who pays - was not part of the recent review.
"This was not changed from when the previous government introduced the IVL," the spokesperson said in a statement.
"Who is liable to pay the IVL is linked to types of visas and the New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority.
"Visitors that are exempt from the requirement to pay the IVL therefore include New Zealand and Australian citizens and permanent residents, diplomats, and people from many Pacific Island countries."
The spokesperson also said there is a principle of free movement between Australia and New Zealand which underpins the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement.
Australian citizens and permanent residents receive residence visas on arrival enabling them to visit, or work and live, in New Zealand.
"The government therefore has a longstanding agreement that Australian citizens and permanent residents will be exempt from the IVL charge. This is similar for many Pacific nations."
New Zealand's Asian community is among those disappointed by the government's decision.
In announcing the increased cost, Doocey acknowledged the "hugely important role" of international tourism to New Zealand's economy, but said it came with a cost to local communities.
Asked how many people would be put off visiting New Zealand as a consequence, Doocey said the advice he had received was that there would be no "significant" decrease in visitor numbers, contrary to what the tourism industry has said.
