Matt Doocey: Tourism Minister on the increased spending of international visitors to New Zealand

The Tourism Minister's upbeat as international travellers continue to spend more here. 

The latest International Visitor Survey shows overseas visitors added $2.6 billion to the economy in the June quarter, an annual increase of 17%. 

It comes a day after the Government's announcement that the International Visitor Levy will rise by almost 200% to $100 from next month.  

Matt Doocey told Mike Hosking there was no connection between the two announcements. 

He says tourism operators believe they have better product and experiences, which need to be celebrated. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Back to the tourism. So they're breaking the government seventeen
percent increase in expendits. You're two point six billion for
the last quarter, which annually makes it eleven point six billion,
which is all fantastic. Anyway, the minister Matt Doocey's with us, Matt,
morning to you, morning Mike, directly after. I mean, is
this a deliberate strategy with you guys? You announce a
big increase in the levee and then the next day
you put out a press release saying, look how well

(00:20):
we're doing. Is that a plan?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Is it? No? No, they weren't connected, but it is
good news as our tourism sector bounced back. But who
I need to listen to is actually the tourist operators
on the ground. As I get around the country, they're
all telling me they've got a high yielding product. They're
delivering a better quality experience, and I think that's to
be celebrated.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yep, no question about that. But seventeen percent up is
off a very low base though, and that's the reality
we've got to deal with, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Well, when you look around the world, there is some
tough economic edwinds. We've bounced back to about eighty five
percent of value from pre COVID level. And like I say,
the mood is upbeat on the ground and we want
to support that. Is a government we want to grow tourism.
We really want to back it of past tourism endst
with an ambitious goal to increase the value of international

(01:10):
tourism by five billion over the next four years. And
I think we're on track.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
No, you're not, because here's the reality. Have you looked
to what's been happening in Europe matt over the summer
period in terms, none of them are at eighty five percent,
They're at one hundred and eighty five percent. They've got
so many tourists in that part of the world that
the locals are spraying them with water pistols and telling
them to go home. No one's doing that here. Something's
gone wrong with this country. Don't you agree with that?

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Well, I think you've answered your own question to be
quite frank, Mike. When you look at the surveys for
New Zealanders, ninety three percent report that they see the
value of tourism to New Zealand. We've got huge social
license for tourism. I want to maintain that when you
look at the International Visit to Survey, ninety four percent

(01:55):
of our visitors report that their trip has met or
exceeded expectation. So what we're seeing is New Zealanders are
happy with tourism. Our visitors are happy, and the value
of tourism is growing year on year, and I think
we should support that.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Matt, you're missing the point completely. Asking a tourist who
came here whether they had a good time is fine,
and I'm glad they did. But you need four more
tourists that didn't come to get the numbers back to
where they were because we're not making the money we
once made and we need to.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
Well, I just don't think we should have a direct
comparison of bums on seats pre COVID bums on seats today.
It's clearly about the value of tourism, the value it
brings New Zealand as an economy. Well, at the moment,
we've increased by half a billion dollars in the quarter
compared to the quarter last year.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Given the top low. I'm not blaming you because you've
only been there five minutes. What I'm telling you and
what I know for a fact, is capacities back, the
seats aren't full China. I get that's an individual story.
I understand that. But we are not competing internationally with
other countries that are back doing as well, if not
better than they used to. We're simply not doing that well.

(03:07):
Why are we denying this?

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah, I don't think it's about blame, Mike. I think
we've got the trend line going in the right direction.
Our tourist operators are upbeat. You look at Hawk's Bayos
at recently the value of their international tour as that
is forty percent above pre COVID levels West Coast and
the South Island fifteen to twenty percent. So what we're
seeing is tourism with a high yield, a better quality experience,

(03:32):
and that's what we want to support.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
All right, man, and go well, appreciate it very much.
Matt Douci, am I am I the outlier here? Am
I the only one who's bothered by this? And everyone
else thinks it's fantastic, sitting at eighty five percent of
what it once was? And you know, wahu or is Matt?
Is Matt right?

Speaker 2 (03:47):
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