John MacDonald: Yes to more tourists. But...

There’s nothing wrong with backing yourself but, as a country, we have some pretty high and mighty ideas sometimes.   

A good example is the previous Labour government’s approach that, when it comes to tourism, we should only try to get the people with truckloads of money to come here for a holiday. What they called the “higher value tourists”.  

And I’m delighted that the Government is saying we need to get over ourselves and pretty much anyone and everyone who wants to visit from overseas is going to be welcome to come here.  

Nicola Willis, the new economic growth minister, is making the very good point that it was all very well for the previous government to think that getting the people with big money over here was the better bet. But that was no guarantee of big spending.  

She’s saying today: “I want all tourists. Because, ultimately, it’s not the government that decides how much a tourist spends when they come to New Zealand. The tourist will make that decision.”  

She says: “Our job is to make it easy for them to come in the door, easy for them to come to New Zealand. Then, when they get here, I’ve got great faith in our tourism providers that they’ll do everything they can to get as many dollars out of those back pockets as possible.”  

No arguments from me there. Because we are not Venice, we are not overrun with tourists. In fact, I would say that we’ve never been overrun with tourists, not even before Covid.  

Tell that to the bloke in Queenstown though who got into an argument with a mate of mine in a burger bar there one night.  

We were there with a whole bunch of people and this guy was telling us how much of a pain in the backside it was to have all us out-of-towners there.    

“Loopies” he called us. I remember, back in the day, the locals in Wanaka used to talk about all the “loopies” coming to visit for a holiday, as well.  

But, as my mate politely pointed out to this guy in the burger bar - no tourists, no visitors, no Queenstown. Even our lot. Who were there on the smell of an oily rag.  

Another thing too is that, if we’re totally honest with ourselves, we’re not actually that special compared to all the other countries that international tourists have the option of visiting.  

Yes, New Zealand is beautiful. And when you go to places like Glenorchy, near Queenstown, for example —which I did a few weeks back, and which is a stunning part of the country— it reminds you what a special place this is.  

But there are lots of other special and beautiful places in the world too.  

Which is why I think it’s great that the Government plans to get us off this high horse that the last government put us on when it comes to the type of people we want to try and get over here for a holiday.  

Why I think it’s great that the new thinking, is that anyone who wants to come here is welcome.    

But. And there’s always a but – actually, there are a couple of buts.  

One of them, is that tourism is not a silver bullet on its own. Because, generally, tourism jobs don’t pay all that well.   

The other but —and this is the more significant one— is that if this is the approach the Government’s going to take, it has to do more than what Nicola Willis is talking about.  

Because it’s all very well to say that it’s the Government’s job to get the tourists here and it’s the tourism operators’ job to get as much money as possible out of them once they’re here.  

But, as people in places like Franz Josef know, more visitors means more demand for basic services like public toilets and all that stuff – a demand that local councils just can’t afford to meet.  

And this is where the Government is going to have to have more skin in the game if it really wants this op

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Kerry Wood of Morning's podcast from
News Talks, he'd be.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
You know, there's nothing there's nothing wrong with backing yourself.
But as a country we have some pretty high and
mighty ideas sometimes. A key example is the previous labor
government's approach that when it comes to tourism, we should
only try to get the people with truckloads of money
to come here for a holiday, what they call the

(00:33):
higher value tourists. And I'll tell you what, I'm delighted
that ahead of the State of the Nation speech today,
which is expected to focus quite heavily on growing the economy,
I'm delighted that the government is telling us that tourism
is going to be a key part of that economic
growth and that we need to get over ourselves and

(00:53):
pretty much anyone and everyone who wants to visit from
overseas is going to be welcome to come here. Now. Specifically,
it's Nicola Willis who was saying this. She who is
the new Economic Growth Minister, and she's making the very
good point today that it was all very well for
the previous government to think that getting the people with
the big money over here was a better bet but

(01:15):
it was no guarantee, she says, of big spending. I'll
quote her directly. She says, quote, I want all tourists
because ultimately it's not the government that decides how much
a tourist spends when they come to New Zealand. The
tourist will make that decision, she says. Our job, and
that's the government she's talking about there. Our job is
to make it easy for them to come on the door,

(01:37):
easy for them to come to New Zealand. Then when
they get here, I've got great faith and our tourism
providers that they will do everything they can to get
as many dollars out of those back pockets as possible.
End of quote from Nikola Wallis, and no arguments from
me there. Because we are not venice, we are not
overrun with tourists. In fact, I would say that we

(01:59):
have never been overrun with tourists, not even before COVID.
Tell that to the bloke in Queenstown though, who got
into an argument with a mate of mine in the
burger bar there one night. We were there with a
whole bunch of people and this guy was telling us
how much of a pain in the backside it was
to have all us out of town. Is there loopies?
Loopies he called us. And I remember back in the

(02:21):
day the locals and one of keys to talk about
all the loopies coming to visit for a holiday as well.
But back to this guy in the burger bar in Queenstown.
Is my mate politely pointed out to him, no tourists,
no visitors, no Queenstown, even our lot who were there
on the smell and oily rag. We were making a difference.

(02:41):
The other thing too, when it comes to tourism, if
we are totally honest with ourselves, we are not actually
that special. This is New Zealand I'm talking about. We
are not actually that special compared to all the other
countries that international tourists have the option of visiting. Yes,
New Zealand is beautiful and when you go to places
is like glen Orkey near Queenstown, for example, which I

(03:03):
did a few weeks back, and which is a stunning
part of the country, which reminds you of what a
special place this is. But even when you go there,
in the back of your mind you know that there
are lots of other special and beautiful places in the
world too that tourists can go to, which is why
I think it's great. I think it's brilliant that the

(03:23):
government plans to get us off this high horse that
the last government put us on when it comes to
the type of people we want to try and get
over here for a holiday. Well, I think it's great
that the new thinking is that anyone who wants to
come here is more than welcome. But and there's always
a butt. Actually, there are a couple of butts as

(03:44):
far as I'm concerned. One of them is that tourism
is not a silver bullet on its own because generally
tourism jobs they don't pay all that well. The other butt,
and this is the more significant one, is that if
this is the approach the government's going to take, which
I think, as I said, I think it has to
and which I think New Zealand has no option but
to take. As well as that, though the government has

(04:07):
to do more than what Nichola Willis is talking about today,
because it's all very well to say, isn't it that
the government? You know, it's a government's job to get
the tourists here, and it's a tourism operators job to
get as much money as possible out of them once
they're here. But as people in places like Franz Joseph
on the South Island's West coast, as people there know,

(04:28):
more visitors means more demand for basic services like public
toilets and all that stuff, and it's a demand that
local councils just can't afford to meet on their own.
And this is where the government is going to have
to have more skin in the game if it really
wants this open door policy to reap the economic benefits
that it wants and that it expects the economic benefits

(04:52):
that of course will come with more people visiting, irrespective
of their bank balance. So yep, open the floodgates. Ditch
the pipe dream that New Zealand is only a place
for wealthy tourists. Sell us to the world, get as
many people here visiting as you can, but don't leave
it to locals and their struggling councils to provide all
the basic services and infrastructure and facilities that these visitors

(05:13):
are going to need once they get here.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
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