The government wants to "turbocharge" global marketing to international visitors, with a new $13.5 million investment in Tourism New Zealand
Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston made the announcement with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in Auckland this afternoon, where the pair visited the Weta Workshop Unleashed exhibition.
The service sector in New Zealand - which includes tourism, retail and hospitality - has been struggling to recover and gain traction in recent months.
Upston said the government was relentlessly focused on economic growth and data showed tourism would play a leading role in this going forward.
"Today I'm delighted to announce a $13.5 million investment for Tourism New Zealand to encourage more international visitors across multiple markets.
"Encouraging more visitors means more people staying in our hotels, eating in our cafés, spending in our shops and visiting our attractions, creating jobs and driving economic growth."
It will be paid for from the international visitor levy funds.
The initial investment would focus on encouraging visitors from China, Australia, the United States, India, Germany and South Korea, Upston said.
"We know international marketing works, with around 14 percent of international holiday visitors already being directly influenced by Tourism NZ's marketing activity.
"We have encouraging signs coming through from our 'Everyone Must Go!' campaign focused on Australia, but we won't stop there.
"2025 is our chance to reinforce the value of tourism and show what our humming, vibrant country has on show. New Zealand tourism is open for business."
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Upston said it was estimated the $13.5 million investment would result in an extra 23,000 international visitors by the end of March 2026, bringing an additional $100 million.
Speaking to media after the announcement, Upston said the intention of the funding was to look at "specific campaigns into specific countries".
In terms of visitor numbers, she said Australia was "going well" on the back of the government's earlier campaign. She referenced a record number of visitors from the United States in February this year - 63,700 - as announced by StatsNZ today.
When it came to China though, she said: "We need to get the numbers back, so we'll have a different focus there.
"And of course, with our recent visit to India, that's more of an emerging market, so we'll have a different strategy depending on which country we're focused on."
Luxon said there were about 154 million people who were called "active considerers" of a trip to New Zealand.
"So they've kind of got it on their bucket list of top five places they want to visit, and they plan to come to New Zealand in the next three years, and they also are planning to spend an amount of money while they're here that's above a threshold - that's what we call the active consider opportunity."
He said it was about convincing those 154 million people to come here "before they die".
"Because it would be an absolute tragedy if they don't make it to New Zealand before they pass.
"So that is our job, and the job of our marketing agencies and tourism New Zealand, to make the case."
He said that was why this money had been targeted into those particular markets where an "opportunity" had been identified to "build back our volumes".
In February, the government announced a $30 million spend on tourism infrastructure and biodiversity projects in the country.
Specific campaigns will be announced as they are developed over the course of this year.
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