Mr Boult said he met new Tourism Minister Stuart Nash in Queenstown in November during his first visit to the resort after taking over the portfolio from Kelvin Davis.
Mr Nash had inquired about the "status of the visitor levy".
"I took him through the process that we had been through and took him to the point where it was about to be introduced to Parliament, and Covid-19 arrived, Mr Boult said.
"At that point we obviously said, ‘Look, there’s just no point in pursuing this in the current environment’.
"We stressed that it wasn’t off the table but, clearly, now is not a good time to introduce it."
The pair agreed to "keep talking about it", but both understood there would be "no intention of introducing it until normal trading conditions returned", Mr Boult said.
"By ‘normal’ I mean we’re back where everybody is making good money and we’re seeing good flows of tourists through and accommodation providers are getting good occupancy rates."
