Nicola Willis: Finance Minister hopeful visa changes for digital nomads will help grow tourism numbers

The Finance Minister is determined to get tourism figures back up to their pre-pandemic levels - and she hopes the newest batch of visa changes will speed that along.

From today, visitors can work remotely for overseas companies while holidaying in New Zealand for up to nine months, but they may need to declare themselves New Zealand tax residents if they stay for over 90 days.

Nicola Willis says there's capacity for growth officials will be tracking the number of visitor visas that come out of this change.

"We think it will make an impact on economic growth, because every tourist that comes to New Zealand benefits our bottom line. That's what supports people who are working for tourism providers, who are working for accommodation providers, restaurants, cafes - the more people they have coming through their doors and spending, the better." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So right now it's time to say for a regular
catch up. Good evening to Nicolai was finance mins. Hello, Hello,
So this afternoon you announced the tourists for free to
work remotely. They call them you know what do they
call them? They call them digital nomad.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Digital nomads, that's right, people who are wanting a bit
of a workation and they can do.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
It for up to ninety days in New Zealand. How
big is this market?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, around the world there are several countries who have
actively said, look, you can come and visit our country
and keep working remotely while you're here, And apparently it's
a very large market already today, I've had people tell
me that their contacts in the US, particularly those in
LA have said, look, that could be really interesting for me.

(00:44):
Because I'm rebuilding my home and having somewhere to base
myself that's also beautiful and wonderful, and where I can
keep working in my digital business is very attractive indeed.
And for us Andrew, that means more money going through
the toils of our accommodation providers and all of that
good stuff, and more GST for the government books as well.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
I've got a kid, I've got kid I used to
coach soccer who's currently digitally nomadding it's himself somewhere in Asia,
but he's working for a Wellington company. But the question
I ask you is how big is the market? Like?
How many people are we talking here?

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Well, we are yet to see that. Officials find it
very difficult to estimate how many more visitor visas we
will get out of this. What we know is that
right now we're still fifteen percent below the tourism levels
we were in twenty nineteen, So we know we've got
big capacity for growth and we'll be tracking those numbers
very closely. What I can anticipate happening is that one

(01:39):
you'll get a new group of visitors who might not
otherwise have contemplated coming here. He'll be comfortable, they can
keep in touch with their job. The other thing will
get I think, is people staying longer, because you'll have
that person who comes over for a couple of weeks,
falls in love with the place, or falls in love
with the Kiwi and then says, well, I want to
extend my stay. How can I do that while staying
in touch with my workface And the answer is you can.

(02:01):
The visa allows you to do it, Please stay for
a bit longer, spend more money in New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Agreed. I understand the concept that again it's about just
how many people are out there, whether it's actually going
to make an impact on our economic growth.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Well, we think it will make an impact on economic
growth because every tourist that comes to New Zealand benefits
our bottom line. That's what supports people who are working
for tourism providers, who are working accommodation providers, restaurants, cafes.
The more people they have coming through their doors and spending,
the better that is for our economy as a whole.

(02:34):
It means more jobs can be supported, it means more
money can go into the tills of our local community,
and it's positive on the short term and in the
long term. Andrew, these are smart people. These are people
with really great skills. Otherwise their employers wouldn't let them
work on the other side of the world. And we
want connections.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
So have you capt it ninety days so it stays
in line with the ninety days with it we have
in our employment laws, so people can actually figure out
whether they're worth it to stay here or not.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Well, we've actually said this can be for up to
nine months, and the cases of many people, they will
extend it for that long. And that's just simply a
reflection of our current visitor visa settings, which allow people
to visit New Zealand for up to nine months on
a tourism visa, and we're saying if you're on that

(03:21):
kind of visa, you're allowed to work remotely for it
for as long as you like within that nine month period.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Now, Bernard Hiccky this morning said that your economic growth
plan relies on tourists flooding into the country, but you
don't want to invest in tourism infrastructure and housing.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
So is that a fair criticism, Well, I think he's
mischaracterizing our growth plan. It's not just about tourism. We're
also looking at what we can do across the economy
to facilitate stract legislation, driving productivity through other means.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
He said, your short term economic growth.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Well, look, we do need some quick ones. The economy
is suffering right now in too many New Zealanders and
businesses the consequences of that, and as we look to
the future, yes, we will have to invest, together with
communities in more infrastructure We're a government with a big
transport infrastructure plan, big investment plans down the pipe. But
as I said, right now, we're still fifteen percent below

(04:17):
the levels of tourism we were achieving five years ago.
So we know this capacity for more growth and it's
up to us to make it easier for people to
come here. Now.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
Treasury has been reviewing the government assets. People are calling
you to do that asset recycling. Are you going to
be making a decision on that? And can I also
say the jungle drums are beating saying you might sell QV.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Well, look, I want to see New Zealand manage its
existing assets a lot better. So I've been working with
Treasury looking at all of the assets we own. That's
everything from QV through to dozens of farms owned by
Land Corp. Many assets, and I've been asking Treasury to
tell me one are they being managed well to the
greatest benefit for New Zealanders And two is there a

(05:00):
good purpose for us owning them? And what can we
do to make sure we get more value out of
that investment in the future. So that's advice that the
Cabinet is yet to consider. But as we look to
the future, we've got to make the most of our assets.
We've got to invest wisely because we know for a
fact we need more hospitals, we need more schools, we
need more roads, we need more public transport infrastructure. So

(05:22):
that's where our priority lies. And making sure our dollars
are going where our priorities are well.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
We're all itching to hear. We want to know when well.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Look, the Prime Minister has been clear that we're not
planning on selling any of our major state assets this term.
But what I intend to set out for the New
Zealand people is a much clearer picture of the broad
range of assets that the government currently owns and I
think New Zealanders would be surprised at some of the
things that we own. And then we need to go

(05:51):
to the question of do we think that that's the
best way for that money, which is ultimately tax pers
money to be used, and are there better options? The
bottom line for me, as we have to be able
to deliver at least has got to serve us preferably
better and deliver real value for the text pay not
just in the short term but the long term too.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
Nicola willis for the Minister, I thank you so much
for your time.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
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