Kia ora THE It's fantastic to see data released last week showing how important tourism's contribution is to New Zealanders and the country. Tourism is now the second largest export, directly and indirectly employing 317,514 New Zealanders with international visitors contributing $10.8b to our economy. The data also shows that 6,786 more tourism operators are back and providing much needed jobs across New Zealand. I'd like to recognise the efforts of the industry who have worked so hard over the last four years to get to these results and deliver an exceptional experience for visitors.
The International Visitor Survey data released on Tuesday supports this. In 2023 international visitors contributed $9.9 billion to the economy. The largest contributing markets were Australia and the USA. Read more about the latest IVS data here.
For Tourism New Zealand there's still work to be done. Latest reports into our active considerers show the pool has reduced by around 14% since pre-COVID. Cost of living pressures, strong competition from other destinations and readiness to travel post pandemic have contributed to this decline.
We need to work hard to get more people to consider New Zealand as a holiday destination. We'll be focusing on encouraging visitation in the off-peak months to support the sector to increase its year-round productivity and sustainability.
I will be sharing more about our plans at our upcoming industry hui. I look forward to catching up with you all, having some good kōrero and discussing our FY25 plans and activity.
The latest Views on Tourism report is out and it shows tourism has broad support from New Zealanders, with 95% agreeing that tourism is important to the country. What's more 80% of New Zealand residents personally benefited from tourism activity in their local area and more than a third (37%) see that tourism activity means more local businesses are open or able to stay open. Read the latest report here.
As always - if you have any questions, feedback, or want to get in touch with myself or one of the Tourism New Zealand team, please contact us. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment