The money is on top of other investments into marketing announced earlier this year. Those were focused on increasing visitors between now and early 2026, while today’s announcement is focused on arrivals in the years beyond that.
Upston said today’s funding – which comes from the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) - will be targeted towards core markets like Australia, the United States and China over the coming years.
“We know how important marketing is to attract visitors, with around 14% of international holiday visitors directly influenced by Tourism NZ’s marketing activity,” she said.
It’s expected to deliver an extra 72,000 international visitors to NZ and generate about $300 million in spending, which the minister said was a “very strong return on investment”.
Upston said international visitor numbers continue to climb and this additional investment would help drive economic growth.
“Encouraging more visitors means more people staying in our hotels, eating in our cafés, spending in our shops and visiting our attractions.
“This creates jobs and drives economic growth. We want people to know New Zealand is open for business and we welcome visitors with open arms.”
The minister said this is the first investment from the Government’s yet-to-be-revealed Tourism Growth Roadmap.
She said it will set out a “series of Government initiatives and investments for the Government and industry to work together to double the value of tourism exports by 2034″.
This is in addition to the $13.5 million announced by Upston in April for marketing as well as the ‘Everyone Must Go’ campaign to get Australians to New Zealand.
