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Tourism and Hospitality Minister, Matt Doocey has acknowledged the importance of the Hospitality sector in light of new tourism data that reveals tourism stepping up to become the country’s second-biggest export earner.
Minister Doocey explained that “the Tourism Satellite Account shows how strongly tourism rebounded post-pandemic with total tourism and hospitality expenditure in New Zealand of $37.7b for the year ending March 2023, an increase of $10.7b from the previous year”.
“The data shows after the borders fully reopened New Zealand began to see a normalising of tourism flows with a greater mix of international visitors returning in droves along with strong spend increases in hospitality services and visitor experiences.”
As the Minister identifies, this shows how important international connectivity is to New Zealand. This data demonstrated the importance of tourism to main centres and regions, businesses and our economy as a whole.
Other key figures from the Tourism Satellite Account show:
Overseas visitor expenditure increased by $8.9b to $10.8b
Domestic tourism expenditure increased 7.2 per cent to $26.9b
Total number of people employed in the tourism industry increased by 49.2 per cent to 318 000 people
Tourism generated a direct contribution to GDP of $13.3b, or 3.7 per cent of GDP“These results clearly show the resilience of tourism which is owed to the determination and grit of tourism businesses across New Zealand who got through the pandemic and geared up ready to meet visitors with open arms,” Doocey says.
“Most regions rely on tourism and hospitality, which creates jobs and opportunities for New Zealanders. My message to tourism and hospitality operators around the country is that our government will continue to support them to grow.”
