OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2026

Tourism is a cornerstone of New Zealand’s economy, serving as the country’s second largest export. In the financial year ended March 2025, tourism generated NZD 18.0 billion, directly contributing to 4.6% of total GVA. Tourism directly employed 194 600 people, accounting for 6.8% of total employment. Tourism jobs are critical in many of New Zealand’s regions, with 55% of jobs in tourism located outside of Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury. Travel exports represented nearly 52% of total service exports in the year ended March 2025.

In 2025, there were 3.4 million international overnight visitors (91% of pre-pandemic 2019 levels), with the top three markets being Australia (45%), the United States (11%) and China (8%). New Zealand recorded 25.8 million domestic guest nights in all means of accommodation in 2025, up 0.2% on the previous year.

Tourism also brings significant non-financial benefits to New Zealand by supporting regional development, helping to preserve the natural environment, and supporting global connectivity through people-to-people linkages. 94% of New Zealanders surveyed in 2024 agreed that tourism is good for the country.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) advises central government, via the Minister for Tourism and Hospitality, on supporting the tourism sector. The Ministry works closely with other government agencies whose portfolios intersect with the tourism sector, including the Department of Conservation, Department of Internal Affairs, Ministry for Culture and Heritage and Ministry of Transport. Tourism New Zealand, a Crown Entity, markets the country as a visitor destination internationally in partnership with industry and Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs).

Local and regional authorities provide tourism-related infrastructure and local planning frameworks to help communities grow and manage local tourism challenges. RTOs are responsible for promoting and managing tourism in specific regions. In recent years, RTOs have also assumed leadership in bringing together local stakeholders to develop Destination Management Plans to ensure their destinations are well-managed and sustainable. RTOs are largely funded and governed by local councils with some RTOs receiving additional funding from other sources, including central government, annual membership fees from local industry and industry partnership funding.

Vertical co-ordination is achieved through a shared understanding of key strategic documents, strong relationships with key destinations and regular discussions with Regional Tourism New Zealand and/or Local Government New Zealand.

In the 2025-26 financial year, the Minister for Tourism and Hospitality is responsible for appropriations of just over NZD 184 million and NZD 190 million of revenue from the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL). Levy revenue from 2025/26 will be allocated as follows:

• NZD 35 million per year for new discretionary tourism spending.

• NZD 55 million per year for new discretionary conservation spending.

• NZD 8 million per year for Ngā Haerenga, the New Zealand Cycle Trail Fund.

• The remainder of revenue collected (estimated to be around NZD 92 million) will partially fund Tourism New Zealand and the Department of Conservation.

The Tourism Growth Roadmap, announced in June 2025, outlines New Zealand’s strategic vision and plan to boost tourism, drive economic growth and enhance the visitor experience. The Roadmap currently has three major objectives:

• Increase the number of international visitors to at least 2019 levels (3.89 million) by the end of 2026.

• Double the value of 2023 tourism exports by 2034 (from NZD 9.9 billion to NZD 19.8 billion).

• Grow the number of New Zealanders in tourism and hospitality jobs.

The Roadmap will be updated annually, initially focusing on stimulating tourism demand and shifting over time to focus more on the supply-side of the tourism system and supporting visitor growth. There are seven major workstreams underpinning the Roadmap:

• Workforce: An industry-led workstream to ensure New Zealand has a skilled, resilient, and future-ready tourism and hospitality workforce. Work has been done to understand the impact of systemic factors like the seasonality of work and poor pay and conditions for the tourism workforce (see box below).

• Mixed-use tourism infrastructure: Effectively developing and maintaining mixed-use infrastructure across New Zealand to provide the best experiences to international visitors and support long-term tourism growth.

• Regions and communities: Setting up regions and communities to manage and invest in the tourism system, including by exploring opportunities that enable a more co-ordinated and consistent approach.

• Tourism system funding: Ensuring the system is financially resilient, responsive to changing demands and capable of delivering consistent value to visitors, communities, businesses and the environment. The Government is procuring independent research on priorities for tourism system funding flows.

• System co-ordination and data: Future-proofing the tourism system’s structures and responsibilities, and providing timely, high-quality data can be used to support growth across the tourism system. The Government and the Tourism Data Leadership Group have worked through procurement of the priority data sets and contracted providers for delivery.

• Visitor experience: Ensure visitors can access high-quality tourism and hospitality experiences and accommodation.

• Aviation and cruise connectivity: Ensure aviation and cruise settings are fit for purpose and enable international connectivity. Improving aviation connectivity is aligned with the 2025 Aviation Action Plan, which sets out a shared industry and government ambition for an efficient, resilient and innovative aviation sector. To enhance cruise connectivity, initiatives include establishing a regular Cross-Government-Industry Cruise Forum, developing a prototype hull cleaning system, and undertaking a systematic review of cruise fees and levies to ensure the cruise tourism settings enable growth in both cruise ship deployments to New Zealand and value across regions from shore visitation.

In 2025-26, NZD 35 million from the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy – a NZD 100 levy charged to most international visitors with the aim to address current challenges in the tourism and conservation systems – has been committed to fund Roadmap initiatives. NZD 27.5 million has been invested in demand-side initiatives including increased international marketing in core and emerging markets such as Australia, the People’s Republic of China and the United States, to attract additional business events, and secure more major events. The remainder has been allocated to the upgrading of tourism infrastructure to improve visitor experiences and reduce congestion, including improvements to the Milford Road corridor and the Totara River Rail Bridge on the West Coast Wilderness Cycle Trail.

At the regional level, each RTO has a Destination Management Plan (DMP) which brings together different stakeholders to achieve the common goal of developing a well-managed, sustainable visitor destination. It is an ongoing process that requires destinations to plan for the future and consider the social, economic, cultural and environmental risks and opportunities. The Plans each set out the specific challenges and opportunities for their region, as agreed by tourism businesses, local residents (including local Māori communities), local governments and other stakeholders. Initial Plans were funded by central Government but developed and implemented locally (including resourcing). The continued implementation of the DMPs is a local responsibility.