Industry insights

Themes and opportunities to how visitors contribute to New Zealand.

Tourism sector's contribution to New Zealand

Before COVID-19, tourism was New Zealand's largest export industry and delivered $40.9 billion to the country. Tourism made a significant positive impact on regional economies supporting employment by directly employing 8.4 percent (229,566 people) of the New Zealand workforce.

For the year ended March 2023:

  • Tourism was New Zealand second largest export earner
  • Total tourism expenditure was 37.7 billion, an increase of 39.6 percent ($10.7 billion) from the previous year
  • International tourism expenditure increased 456.9 percent ($8.9 billion) to $10.8 billion and contributed 11.4% to New Zealand’s total exports of goods and services
  • GST generated from international tourists totalled $1 billion, an increase of $858 million
  • Overseas visitor arrivals to New Zealand increased 858.7 percent to 2,199,073
  • Tourism generated a direct contribution to GDP of $13.3 billion, or 3.7 percent of GDP, an increase of 30.9 percent ($3.1 billion)
  • The indirect value added of industries supporting tourism generated an additional $8.8 billion, or 2.5 percent of GDP
  • 189,432 people were directly employed in tourism, 6.7 percent of the total number of people employed in New Zealand.
  • In total, 317,514 people were directly or indirectly employed in tourism, or one in 9 New Zealanders.

How visitors contribute to New Zealand's wellbeing

Te Ōhanga(opens in new window)

Understanding how visitors to New Zealand contribute to New Zealanders wellbeing, including the visitor economy, spending power, carbon footprint and more.

Views on Tourism

Views on Tourism research is conducted quarterly to understand how New Zealanders view tourism.

The role of sustainability in destination and operator choice(opens in new window)

Tourism New Zealand and the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment undertook research to better understand visitor perceptions of sustainability in relation to holiday destination and operator choice. 

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