Opinion: $25 extra per tourist visitor? New Zealand worth it

Labour's tourism spokesman, Kris Faafoi, and Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick at the party's funding announcement this week. Photo/Stephen Parker

It was fitting that Labour chose Rotorua and specifically Te Puia to announce its plans to invest millions in the tourism industry.

Many decades ago we used to refer to the city as the "heart of the tourist diamond" and since then the offering for visitors has expanded markedly.

Rotorua is still the home of Maori culture and geothermal activity, but now our surrounding lakes, forest, hills and mountains are playing a greater part than they used to in attracting tourists.

Labour says that if elected it will establish a "Tourism and Conservation Infrastructure Fund" that will invest $75 million a year into supporting the tourism economy.

The proposal, funded by a $25 levy on international visitors, would inject $45 million into tourism infrastructure and training, and $30 million into environmental and conservation work.

It puts tourism operators in an interesting spot. On one hand they will surely welcome the extra funding for their industry, particularly in areas where infrastructure hasn't kept up with increasing visitor numbers. But could making New Zealand a more expensive destination turn tourists off?

Tourism Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts says another tax at the border is asking too much of tourists, pointing out they already pay more than $1 billion in GST once they're here.

Last week, before Labour's announcement, Mr Roberts backed National's plan to charge higher fees for visitors on some of New Zealand's Great Walks.

He preferred this user-pays-type model to an untargeted border tax, and said we're not marketing New Zealand as a cheap place to come. We want to be a high-value destination.

"Some might wonder why we support charging visitors more, but we think the quality of our product is worth it," he told reporters.

Can't that argument also be applied to Labour's proposal? New Zealand is a tourist's paradise. Some might wonder why we would charge visitors more, but the quality of our country is definitely worth it.

Yes, it will be fiddly working out how to add $25 to international air tickets while not stinging Kiwis coming home, but the spending is common sense and better the money come from visitors' wallets than our own pockets.