Traveling Blog: Tourism News - July 2026 – New Zealand’s first MICHELIN Guide is here

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1 July 2026

Kia ora THE

Aotearoa New Zealand’s first MICHELIN Guide has been unveiled, marking a significant milestone for our food and beverage sector and giving Tourism New Zealand a powerful new platform to share our culinary story with the world.

Tourism New Zealand congratulates the 110 restaurants featured in the inaugural MICHELIN Guide for Aotearoa New Zealand and Oceania. This global recognition reinforces the quality, depth and distinctiveness of New Zealand’s food and beverage offering.

Food is one of the most powerful ways people connect with a place, and we know it plays an important role in travel decisions. The MICHELIN Guide gives potential visitors confidence in the quality of New Zealand’s food and beverage scene, while helping us tell a broader story about our world-class produce, fresh flavours, connection to place and the manaakitanga visitors experience here.

To make the most of this moment, Tourism New Zealand has launched An Invitation to Dinner, an integrated campaign inviting international audiences to experience New Zealand’s food and beverage story first-hand. The campaign features 12 video invitations from the people behind our food story — including growers, producers, chefs and restaurant teams — captured across Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa, Wellington, Marlborough, Kaikōura and Fiordland.

This will be supported by media, influencer and travel trade activity across key visitor markets, including famil activity for 40 guests from 13 markets to the four MICHELIN Guide regions and beyond. The campaign is part of Tourism New Zealand’s wider focus on telling New Zealand’s food and beverage story globally, developed alongside the hospitality sector and partners.

We encourage the tourism sector to get behind this work and help share New Zealand’s food and beverage story. An industry toolkit is available to help you take part, with guidance on how to align with the campaign and promote your own food and beverage experiences to international audiences.

A campaign images from An Invitation to Dinner - Muirs Tours, Bay of Plenty

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Today also marks the beginning of a new financial year for Tourism New Zealand. We’re firmly focused on reaching 3.9 million international visitor arrivals by 30 December this year and international visitation contributing $14.4 billion by 30 June 2027, to put us on track for doubling the value of exports by 2034.

This financial year, our focus will remain on driving arrivals growth. Most of our activity will align to three themes that we know resonate with our audience – positioning New Zealand as the place to visit for an active escape, a wellness holiday and world-class food and beverage experiences. Join our webinar this afternoon to find out more about our FY27 strategy.

Tourism New Zealand welcomes the additional funding of $4 million for international marketing and $1 million for business events. This boost in funding will help us ramp up our activity even further to attract international visitors and conferences to our shores in FY27.

Based on current and provisional data, we are on track to reach our target of 3.7 million international visitor arrivals by 30 June 2026, with official arrivals data to be released next month. In the meantime, thank you for the part you have played in helping to reach this milestone. The hospitality and manaakitanga shown by our industry to international visitors is second to none. This progress towards returning to 2019 arrival numbers is a true reflection of our people, places and experiences, and I look forward to continuing to work with you to achieve our targets in the year ahead and beyond.

As always, please reach out if you have any questions.

Ngā mihi,

René de Monchy
Chief Executive, Tourism New Zealand

Reminder to register: Industry workshops | How AI is changing destination marketing

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing how visitors discover destinations, plan trips and make booking decisions. Tourism New Zealand is hosting a series of practical, action-focused workshops designed to help operators ensure their product remains visible, competitive and bookable.

Sessions will be held in Auckland (20 July), Rotorua (21 July), Queenstown (22 July), Christchurch (23 July), plus an online option on 24 July.

Find out more here

TNZ targets $253 million from international conferences

Tourism New Zealand will chase 110 conference bids worth a record $253 million in the next financial year. The new target was announced following the MEETINGS trade show 2026, which welcomed 700 business events buyers from across New Zealand and key markets. More than 8,000 business appointments were conducted during the two-day event at the New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC). Tourism New Zealand Business Events was among the 220 exhibitors showcasing New Zealand’s conference and incentive offering, as well as hosting two buyer groups from Southeast Asia and North America for familiarisation trips.

Find out more here

Explore NZ Discount Programme Industry Toolkit now available

TNZ has launched the Explore NZ Discount Programme Industry Toolkit to support participating operators. It provides practical resources to help promote your region and experiences through the programme. This includes marketing copy, customisable social and eDM tiles, and video assets, plus content RTOs can share with members as a programme benefit.

Download the toolkit here