The Government will invest $30 million from the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) to fund more than a dozen projects intended to boost biodiversity and tourism.

It’s the latest announcement to come as part of the Government’s economic growth push, which has focused in recent weeks on immigration and tourism changes.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Conservation Minister Tama Potaka made the announcement at today’s post-Cabinet press conference.

Potaka said around 50% of visitors cite natural landscapes and the environment as their primary reason for travelling here, while 50% of international tourists visit national parks.

“While visitor satisfaction remains high, work is needed to ensure Aotearoa New Zealand continues to deliver on its promise to visitors.”

Potaka said $11 million would help manage pressures on the country’s most popular visitor sites, like:

• Upgrades to huts, car parks and facilities at Aoraki Mt Cook, Rangitoto Island and Motutapu Island
• Safety upgrades to 116 cable structures including suspension and swing bridges
• Investment at Goat Island / Te Hāwere a Maki to improve beach access, car parking, and reflect the area’s significant cultural heritage.

“These investments will help deliver a top-notch visitor experience at some of our most popular natural heritage sites,” he said.

There’s also $19 million into protecting biodiversity by reducing the spread of predators an invasive plant species, Potaka said. These investments include:

• Stopping the spread of wallabies and managing deer and goat populations in National Parks and popular visitor areas to allow nature to thrive
• Targeted predator control to protect native species especially the critically endangered Southern Dotterel birds in Rakiura National Park
• Stopping and removing wilding pines from our iconic landscapes. 

“By expanding predator control, we will improve the protection of critically endangered species in national parks and grow the number of iconic birds for visitors to enjoy.

“Wallabies have a terrible impact on indigenous forests such as at the popular Lakes Tarawera and Okataina, and down in Canterbury.

“These investments funded from the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy will deliver better visitor experiences and improved environmental outcomes and ultimately provide a boost for sustainable tourism and growth.”

This funding will cover the next three years and comes from money raised under the previous $35 rate.

Second tourism announcement in two days

On Sunday, Luxon and Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston announced a new tourism campaign aimed at attracting Australian holidaymakers to New Zealand. It has a tagline of “everyone must go” and is part of the Government’s economic growth push.

“This campaign will encourage more of our neighbours to book now and come on over,” said Upston. “Tourism is a crucial part of this Government’s focus on economic growth, with domestic and international tourism expenditure at almost $38 billion and supporting nearly 200,000 jobs.”

She said there was room to grow Australian arrivals, which were up 90,000 over the past year from 1.27 million to 1.36 million.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Minister for Tourism Louise Upston talk to media about tourism and economic growth. Photo / Alex Burton

Last year, the Government went against officials in deciding to hike the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) by nearly 200% to $100. Officials recommended increasing it from its then-rate of $35 to $70.

Officials said increasing the charge by too much risked turning visitors off New Zealand – and even potentially negatively affecting our relationship with other countries. Similar concerns were relayed by the tourism industry.

The IVL is charged to most tourists, people on working holidays, some students and some workers coming into New Zealand. Australians and most Pacific Islanders are exempt from the levy. It goes towards public services used by tourists while in the country and supporting tourism and conservation sites.

Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen on Monday said there were nearly 470,000 visitors in December, 89% of the numbers in December 2019, pre-pandemic. That was an annual increase of 12%, “the strongest monthly recovery since May, and well ahead of the 79% recovery rate seen in December 2023″.

“Over the 2024 year, tourist arrivals into New Zealand totalled 3.3 million, sitting at 85% of pre-pandemic levels, up from the 76% recovery seen over the 2023 year. However, departures of Kiwi tourists overseas have been stronger, with annual Kiwi tourist departures at 98% of pre-pandemic levels over 2024.

“Arrivals across different markets showed mixed results. Australian tourist arrivals rose 17% pa in December, to 96% of pre-pandemic levels. Chinese arrivals rose 13% pa too, but only back to 60% of pre-pandemic levels. There were some noticeable increases in Japanese and European visitors too.

“US visitor arrivals rose 17% pa in December, to sit 7% higher than the same month in 2019. Over the 2024 calendar year, the US cemented itself as New Zealand’s second-largest tourist market, with just over 11% of the total market.”

Olsen said while most of 2024 had the tourism recovery “levelling out”, the past two months showed “signs of an acceleration in the recovery again”.

“Although the overall recovery is solid, the results out of different markets are mixed, and the outlook for markets is likely to reinforce current trends into 2025.

“The fact that Chinese tourist arrivals over 2024 were only at 61% of pre-pandemic levels – still the poorest recovery of all major markets – raises some major questions over if the market will recover towards pre-pandemic levels at all.

“Stronger activity out of the US and more recently a better exchange rate for American travellers to New Zealand have supported the strong recovery from this market, and we expect that momentum to continue into 2025.”