Total visitor arrivals are above 80 percent of pre-Covid 2019 levels. Photo: 123RF
New Zealand will have to work harder to attract tourists as international travellers tighten their purse strings, a tourism leader says.
Total visitor arrivals are above 80 percent of pre-Covid 2019 levels, with holiday arrivals in a similar boat.
Tourism New Zealand chief executive René de Monchy said travel was one of the areas people look to cut back on in tougher times, and they would be tracking the impact it had on people's travel choices.
But he remained optimistic that Aotearoa could avoid the worst of it, as a niche destination which represented 0.3 percent of global travel volume and 0.8 percent of global travel value.
"We're at the more premium end, so possibly a bit more insulated from economic pressure stopping people from travelling to New Zealand."
New Zealand was well-placed as a destination and international tourism was an opportunity to provide more of a buffer to the economy, he said.
"Previously the largest export, it's also one in 10 jobs, the number one employer in New Zealand. I think it's going to be critically important for our own economic resilience in the coming years."
He was expecting a strong summer, but said Tourism New Zealand would be monitoring pressure points over the summer, given its the end of the first full year since the country reopened its borders.
To help with that, Tourism New Zealand has been campaigning to attract visitors who visited more regions, travelled in different seasons and spent more.
It has started to pay off, with strong arrivals during quieter months, particularly for events like the FIFA Women's World Cup, he said.
"That's really positive to see especially outside of the peak season because that's a real opportunity to improve the value and the productivity of the tourism sector."
Overseas tourists were also spending more compared to 2019.
"Total arrivals are about 86 or so percent of the pre-Covid level with holiday arrivals pretty similar - 85 percent. But what's interesting is… total international visitor spend is up about 18 percent more than Covid."
Airline capacity was sitting at about 90 percent of pre-Covid levels, with better connectivity and more routes opening up this year.
Close to half of people actively considering a trip to Aotearoa in the next three years ticked New Zealand as their number one choice, he said.
Tourism New Zealand - a Crown agency - also remained hopeful planned budget cuts may be changed under the new government.
The previous government was looking to find nearly $4 billion in savings, cuts, delays and reprioritisations over four years including $60 million from tourism.
Tourism New Zealand's baseline funding was on the chopping block as part of the plan.
René de Monchy said they were looking forward to discussions with new Tourism Minister Matt Doocey, where they could lay out their plan and priorities for tourism.
"Being visible in the world, particularly as a niche destination, finding the relatively small number of people in the world that are considering New Zealand and enticing the highest quality ones to choose New Zealand takes work and effort and does take money.
"So we will be focused on actually showing the minister the return on that investment, the impact that we can help create."