New guidelines for rental vehicles have been developed after a spate of deaths and a coroner's recommendation for foreign drivers to get better education on arrival in New Zealand.
At least seven serious and fatal crashes involving tourists driving rental cars and campervans have been recorded this year.
Tourism Industry Association advocacy manager Steve Hanrahan said the new voluntary guidelines would focus on communicating with visiting drivers at "three key stages" of their trip. The stages were the booking process, the point when tourists arrived to view their rental vehicle, and finally, during their journey around New Zealand.
The initiatives would include providing links to road safety videos and travel distance calculators. Another part of the programme encouraged drivers arriving after long-haul flights to rest overnight before picking up their vehicle.
Mr Hanrahan said the guidelines also recommended tourists use Global Positioning System tour guides during the journey that broadcast regular safety messages.
