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The tourism industry continues to grapple with significant challenges as visitor visa processing delays continue to hamper travel plans, leading to a wave of last-minute cancellations and reduced group sizes. This issue was a key focus at the Tourism Export Council New Zealand Christmas Symposium in Auckland, December 6, highlighting the growing concerns among industry leaders.
Initially outlined at the Visitor Duty of Care Forum, September 20, where industry leaders met with 4 government agencies (Immigration NZ, Department of Conservation, NZ Police and Customs NZ) who provided updates on various topics.
Tourism Export Council’s Scott Mehrtens spoke of these challenges in his speech during the December symposium. “We know there are many ITOs (Inbound Tour Operators) and hotel chains having frustrations with last-minute cancellations of groups or group sizes being reduced due to difficulties some travellers have with getting their visas processed quickly enough for departure.”
He says the problem is particularly acute for visitors from India and Indonesia with even slower processing times for these markets. “In September at the Visitor Duty of Care Forum, there was an audible gasp when an Immigration NZ official indicated ITOs should advise offshore agents to allow for 8 weeks processing.
“The India market and slow processing times is particularly concerning.” he says.
With India an important market for New Zealand’s holiday and incentive travel sector, Scott says there is the importance of improved processing times. He says it is crucial that visitor visa processing is streamlined to capitalise on this opportunity.
The situation has reached a point where New Zealand risks being removed from the list of preferred travel destinations.
“ITOs are receiving feedback that New Zealand is becoming too hard to travel to.” says Scott.
To address this, TECNZ plans to survey its members to quantify the financial impact of these cancellations and boost its negotiations with Immigration NZ.
In contrast to the industry’s frustrations, Jock Gilray, director visa at Immigration NZ, presented a different view. “For November, the average processing time for Indian nationals was 11 working days, and for Chinese nationals, it was 10 working days. The average for all nationalities was also 11 working days,” he says.
This discrepancy between the experiences of tourism operators and the official stance of Immigration NZ highlights a growing disconnect. As the tourism sector recovers, the resolution of these visa processing delays will be crucial for maintaining New Zealand’s reputation as a world-class destination.
Inside Tourism had reached out to INZ for further clarification and commentary, but had not heard back at the time of publishing.
