"Done well, travel enriches both the home country and the traveller," Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran said. Photo: 123RF
The tourism industry is eager to welcome more visitors as a leader warns growth must have the blessing of Kiwis to be successful.
The country's largest tourism business event, TRENZ, is underway in Rotorua with 1200 operators, travel buyers and leaders discussing business for the years ahead.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon wanted to roll out the red carpet for more tourists and see the industry grow.
"Eighty-two percent of us, in fact, benefit from tourism activity in their local area last year, but we do actually have room," he said.
"Last year, we welcomed over three million visitors to our country, which is a 12 percent increase on the previous year. But it's still below where we were pre-Covid levels."
Auckland Airport chief executive Carrie Hurihanganui said there was room to grow but they needed more flights.
"The reality is our ability to grow inbound visitation will increasingly be hamstrung without airline connectivity," she said.
Greg Foran says the tourism industry services New Zealand first and foremost. File picture. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran did not want the tourism industry to go back to business as usual.
Instead, he wanted an industry that enriched communities and safeguarded our environment.
"For me, this means growth that New Zealanders wholeheartedly support. We, the tourism industry, serve New Zealand first and foremost," he said.
But he acknowledged that recent backlash over flight prices had probably had an impact on Air New Zealand's social licence.
"I'm empathetic to what I see happening at the moment, which is prices have gone up. We've had a period of pretty significant inflation - by the way, not just in New Zealand but in most countries around the world.
"We've effectively seen elections won or lost based on a cost of living crisis."
They would try to keep their costs down, Foran said.
But he was also keen to ensure that it was easier to get here and everyone was welcome.
"Done well, travel enriches both the home country and the traveller."
Some tourist hotspots have expressed unease about the government's push for more tourists.
[https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018983194/westland-district-mayor-on-govt-tourism-investment
Westland District Mayor Helen Lash] told Checkpoint there needed to be more infrastructure to cope with more visitors.
Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston announced that overseas visitors applying to visit New Zealand in languages other than English would soon no longer need to have their translated documents certified.
The announcement - which would come into play later this month - drew applause from tourism leaders.
"Visitors applying to visit New Zealand in languages other than English we know faced additional barriers," she said.
"Your feedback to me was very strong about that in terms of the time and additional expense (due to the certification)."
Her priority was to double export growth by 2034, but she said how they went about getting there and how they collaborated was important as she wanted to preserve the unique welcome.
Recently, North Island tourism leaders banded together to promote the whole island as a destination.
Upston wanted to see more collaborations, saying it would make marketing dollars go further.
"What it means is that when we are selling New Zealand in other countries, in other markets, we're actually selling New Zealand first, and that makes it a much simpler proposition because visitors choose New Zealand rather than somewhere else, and then once they've chosen New Zealand, where they go in New Zealand is a secondary option," she said.
Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Rebecca Ingram said TRENZ was an opportunity to showcase the country.
In dollar terms, she said about 14 percent of businesses expected to create more than $1 million turnover from being at TRENZ this week.
"The majority will make at least $100,000. When you're talking about the impact of these conversations, it's contracts signed, deals done, business committed to and that turns up as jobs in our communities and it turns up as health tourism businesses," Ingram said.
TRENZ wraps up on Thursday.
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