“There’s others that we need to push a bit harder on, and that’s why this money is coming in.”
Asked why China was lagging, Luxon said: “I genuinely think it’s an awareness issue. It’s such a large market. We’ve got to maintain top of mind presence in a market like that”.
Luxon said New Zealand was “for six years” a very inward-looking place.
“We were very, very late coming out of Covid.”
Luxon said New Zealand had to compete with the world’s 194 other countries for attention in big markets.
“New Zealand’s tourism proposition works because we target people who can afford to spend money while they are here in the country.”
He said India also had potential: “250 million of them have been taken out of poverty and arrived in the middle class. They now have aspirations to go and visit places like New Zealand”.
Luxon said the “Everyone Must Go!” tourism campaign was working well, even though some people panned it earlier this year.
“I’ll just say what a fantastic marketing campaign that was. Because the fact that everybody talked about it was exactly what we wanted.”
Some insights into the campaign’s effectiveness may be delivered this week, with international travel data for April due on Wednesday.
The Stats NZ data for March showed total border crossings were 10% down on March 2019.
And overseas visitor arrivals in March 2025 were 18% down on pre-Covid numbers.
Chinese comprised 11% of March tourists before the pandemic and only 7% this year.
Overall overseas visitor arrivals were 3.32 million in the March 2025 year, an average of about 275,000 a month.
Upston said the extra funding was expected to bring 72,000 more visitors to New Zealand between this year and early 2027.
The funding was expected to generate about $300m in spending, which assumed an average spend of $4166 by new tourists.
Upston was asked about the cost of domestic flights and whether a market study or similar Commerce Commission probe was needed.
“It is one of the challenges ... we do want to encourage regional dispersal.
“It’s something that I’m working on with Minister [James] Meager, who’s the associate Minister of Transport. But I haven’t seen it as a barrier to visitors to date,” she added.
“Is there room for improvement in the future? Absolutely.
“But job number one is to get visitors choosing New Zealand because once they land here, we do a wonderful job of looking after them and their satisfaction with their experience is high.”
Some people in the sector have suggested the $100 International Visitor Levy (IVL) might be too high, or an obstacle to some visitors.
But Upston said the IVL was paying for the campaign announced today.
“And no, we haven’t heard it being a barrier to visitors choosing New Zealand,” she added.
Upston said today’s announcement was part of a broader tourism “roadmap” and further initiatives would be announced tomorrow.
Luxon indicated the Government might also encourage tourists to arrive by sea.
“We want those people spending in New Zealand and our businesses, our cities and our regions, and we want New Zealand to be a thriving cruise and air destination.”
John Weekes is a business journalist covering aviation and court. He has previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and court.
