As the border opens to 60 visa waiver countries, there has already been an uptick in spending since New Zealand began welcoming Australian tourists two weeks ago, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.
It comes after international travel was reopened to 60 visa-waiver countries today for the first time in two years.
Ardern says 21 international flights are landing today at Auckland airport after international travel from the visa-waiver countries resumed. She says those holding existing visitor visas from anywhere in the world can also travel here from today, with more than 500,000 such visas held.
Data from Worldline (formerly Paymark), shows spending hit $420 million - some 8 percent higher than the spending at Easter from 2019.
"Our regions benefited the most, as people travelled the country, with Easter spending in Taranaki up by a quarter on 2019, 22 percent in Wairarapa, 18 percent in Whanganui, and 10 percent across Canterbury."
She says increased tourism has meant demand for workers, and more than 5000 applications have now been approved under the Working Holiday Visa category which reopened in mid-April. This is on top of over 18,000 visas reissued to people who applied pre-Covid but were unable to use.
"We know things will take time to fire back up, but the recovery has begun and well ahead of our peak tourism season which begins from October, when our border will open to the entire world."
"Our tourism industry have felt the effects of the global pandemic acutely and are working hard to prepare for the return of higher volumes of international tourists."
She says more than 4000 people with Working Holiday Visas are already in the country. We are currently seeing about 33,000 arrivals per week from overseas, she says.
"New Zealand is in demand and leveraging that interest is a priority for us as a government with our Covid-19 control now a matter of record, a growing economy, and our tourists returning to fill our regional economies back up, we will continue to see signs of our recovery."
She says the Great Walks booking season has begun and they book out fast, so she urges tourists to get in early.
Ardern confirmed to Morning Report there would be no cap on the number of tourists, but highlighting again that tourism operators would in future have a stronger focus on high-quality experiences.