Published on : Thursday, January 10, 2019
The NZ government predicts that more than half of those visitors, i.e. around 2.8 million, will be tourists.
New Zealand is developing a tourism strategy on sustainable growth.
Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis said that the strategy is among his priorities for the year ahead.
“I hope people submit and contribute their thoughts to that,” Mr. Davis said.
The predicted visitor numbers are expected to exceed the current population. Stats NZ projections show that the population and visitors could almost be on par by 2025.
This year, the government’s International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy will be discussed after it was approved by the Cabinet last year.
If successfully passed, visitors would pay $35 through visa fees.
The levy is expected to bring around $80 million a year, which would be split between tourism and conservation projects.
The funding would help support communities and councils to build their infrastructure and cater for visitors, Mr. Davis said.
This year also marks the China-New Zealand Year of Tourism.
Tags: five million visitors, new zealand, Tourism