Tourism growth brings opportunities, writes Tourism Industry Association New Zealand chief executive Chris Roberts.
Prime Minister and Tourism Minister John Key has recently hinted councils in tourism hotspots such as Queenstown and the West Coast may get some government financial support to help manage freedom campers.
TIANZ agrees government assistance is desirable but this should not be about toilets and car parks only. Any central government tourism infrastructure fund should cover the wide range of tourism-related infrastructure needs that local communities face.
It has long been recognised that local councils with small rating bases and high visitor numbers face particular challenges in providing infrastructure and services.
The Government provides $113million a year for Tourism New Zealand to market our destination internationally. That provides an incredibly good return on its investment. International visitor revenues are now in excess of $13billion a year.
We believe there is also a strong argument for the Government to help communities host the record numbers of visitors being attracted, in part, by TNZ's marketing efforts.
Tourism is a huge boon to our economy, especially at a time when dairy farmer returns are suffering. In fact, by the end of 2015 tourism (unofficially) overtook dairy as our No1 export earner. When we include domestic travel, tourism becomes a $30billion a year industry enjoying double-digit growth. Economists describe tourism as the current ‘‘bright spot'' of New Zealand's economic performance.
The rapid growth is putting the tourism industry ahead of schedule to achieve our Tourism 2025 goal of $41billion total tourism revenue a year.
It has been more than a decade since New Zealand last had double-digit tourism growth and we need to think about how we respond to this high-growth environment, both as an industry and as a country.
The industry has been discussing how we manage the tourism boom and plan for the future for some time, but this has now become a national conversation, with numerous media stories highlighting what we might call ‘‘growing pains''.
Issues with freedom campers, visiting drivers, staff shortages and tight accommodation markets at peak periods have all hit the headlines.
We are fortunate that Tourism 2025 provides the industry with a framework to assess and tackle the issues. And in general, we agree on what the big issues are.
●Seasonality: to boost productivity and manage pressure points, we need to grow the shoulder seasons faster than the peak.
●Regional dispersal: to improve productivity, we want people visiting every part of New Zealand. Domestic tourism has a big role to play.
●Infrastructure: there needs to be well-targeted and timely investment in the assets that support both tourism and our regional economies.
●People and skills: tourism directly and indirectly employs one in eight working New Zealanders. We need to attract the right people, with the right skills, at the right time.
●Social licence: manaakitanga or Kiwi hospitality makes for a unique holiday experience. We need communities to understand and support the many benefits tourism brings.
In the past 12 months the number of international visitor arrivals grew by more than 300,000. That pace may or may not be sustained, but within four or five years annual visitors may grow from the current 3million to more than 4million. Without a doubt, we have plenty of capacity to host many more visitors. But we must be smart about how we grow.
A key is encouraging people to travel here outside the peak summer season (TNZ's international marketing now focuses on encouraging shoulder season visitation) and giving them more reasons to visit regions beyond the tourist hotspots like Queenstown - while acknowledging its pulling power as a top-class destination.
Dispersal will help our businesses develop demand year-round and employ more permanent staff. And tourism has enormous potential as a driver of regional development. Productive and profitable businesses contribute positively to their communities in a variety of ways, from supporting schools and local service providers, to growing their rating contributions.
The growth of domestic air services is boosting the number of people who are travelling around New Zealand, and there is growing investment in regional attractions and events.
We also want to work more closely with local government to support them in addressing destination management and infrastructure development.
Our aim is more productive and profitable tourism businesses, working with supportive local communities to deliver outstanding and safe visitor experiences.
Inevitably, central government has an important role to play, and we think it makes good economic sense for it to now invest in long-term regional infrastructure that will support and enable tourism growth.
