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With New Zealand’s election just five days away, new national research shows the country’s overall Tourism Approval Rating is holding steady at +53, but residents are clear on their priorities for the next government: local employment and community infrastructure.
The result is unchanged year on year and sits within the Acceptance range of the Tourism Approval Rating scale.
Angus & Associates has today made its Views on Tourism© dashboard publicly available for the first time. The dashboard provides direct access to New Zealand’s national Tourism Approval Rating, results across nine broad geographic groupings and a snapshot of the benefits, impacts and tourism priorities identified by residents.
Angus & Associates chief executive Cristine Angus says the stable national result provides a positive foundation for the visitor economy and timely evidence for those shaping tourism policy.
“New Zealanders continue to recognise the value tourism brings through employment, support for local businesses, cultural exchange and investment in community facilities and services,” says Cristine.
“With the election approaching, this is an opportunity to ensure residents’ experiences and expectations are part of the tourism conversation, alongside visitor numbers and the sector’s economic contribution.”
What residents want from tourism policy
Among the leading priorities residents identified for the tourism industry were improving community infrastructure and creating employment for people in their communities.
Residents also prioritised attracting more international visitors, encouraging travel outside the peak season and attracting higher-quality visitors. This data reinforces recent sector advocacy, such as Tātaki Auckland Unlimited’s push for sustainable funding models, demonstrating that public support for tourism is intertwined with how well it funds local infrastructure.
Cristine says the results provide useful direction for political parties, policymakers and the next government and reinforce current industry calls for government investment in the infrastructure that supports tourism in our regions.
“Tourism policy is also community policy. Decisions about tourism affect jobs, local businesses, infrastructure, the environment and people’s everyday experiences,” she says
“As political parties debate mechanisms like local levies or central government infrastructure funds, this data shows that sustainable funding isn’t just an industry issue – it is essential for maintaining tourism’s social license.
“The results show continued support for tourism, alongside an expectation of tangible investment in the communities where tourism takes place”.
Tourism is experienced locally
The dashboard also shows variation in community sentiment across broad geographic groupings, with overall Tourism Approval Ratings ranging from +44 to +58.
Cristine says the results should be understood as a national and macro-regional view rather than a scorecard for individual destinations.
“Our groupings bring multiple regions and communities together. They provide useful context, but they cannot tell an individual destination exactly how its own residents view tourism,” she says
“Tourism is experienced locally. The benefits residents value, the pressures they encounter and their confidence in how tourism is being managed can vary considerably within the same broad part of the country.
“For any destination wanting to make local decisions, the next step is to measure its own community and understand what sits behind its result.”
Regional Tourism New Zealand (RTNZ) welcomed the public release of the data, highlighting the importance of community perspectives in shaping tourism development.
“Tourism happens at place; communities deliver the experience for the visitor. It is fundamental that we hold up social license in our communities and reflect a destination that our people want to share with the world,” says Katherine MacGregor, chief executive of RTNZ.
“Therefore, having the data to show how our communities feel, where they want action and by whom, is key for delivering a high-quality experience that reflects people and place.
“We welcome today’s news that Angus & Associates will make this data public and will encourage decision makers across the motu to listen to what that data tells us.”
Residents recognise both benefits and adverse impacts
More than four in five New Zealanders, 83%, reported experiencing benefits from tourism activity in their area.
Employment and income opportunities were the most commonly identified benefit, followed by support for local businesses as a direct consequence of tourism activity.
Residents also recognised opportunities to learn about other cultures, inspiration to travel domestically and a greater appreciation of the natural environment as benefits of tourism in their communities.
At the same time, 73% reported experiencing at least one adverse impact. The most commonly identified impacts – litter, parking shortages, and congestion – highlight the friction points that sustainable, locally targeted funding models aim to resolve.
Angus said these findings should not be viewed as contradictory.
“Residents can value tourism while also noticing its effects in their daily lives,” she says
“Maintaining support means continuing to strengthen the benefits tourism creates while listening to communities and managing local impacts well.”
A trans-Tasman comparison
Using the same methodology in both countries enables a direct trans-Tasman comparison. New Zealand’s overall Tourism Approval Rating of +53 is closely aligned with Australia’s +52.
New Zealanders rate domestic tourism more positively, at +59 compared with +55 in Australia, while Australians rate international tourism slightly more positively, at +49 compared with +47 in New Zealand.
In both countries, 83% of residents report experiencing benefits from tourism activity in their community.
A shared view of tourism’s social license
Views on Tourism has tracked New Zealand residents’ perceptions of tourism since 2017, providing a consistent view across the years before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Tourism Approval Rating combines residents’ views of tourism’s benefits and adverse impacts into an index score ranging from -100 to +100. It allows changes in sentiment to be tracked over time and compared across places and time using a consistent methodology.
The public dashboard also includes separate national ratings for domestic and international tourism, comparisons with Australia, and the leading benefits, adverse impacts and priorities identified by residents.
Cristine says making the dashboard public would provide the visitor economy, policymakers and New Zealand communities with another accessible source of evidence.
“Social license changes over time and varies by place,” she says
“Making our national and broad geographic results publicly available provides an additional perspective and a useful starting point for discussion. Individual destinations can then build on that with evidence from their own communities.”
The public Views on Tourism dashboard is available at https://www.angusassociates.co.nz/views-on-tourism-nz-public/
