Speaking at TRENZ, Chief Executive René de Monchy said the past year had delivered strong momentum for the sector, with growth being driven by a combined push from industry, regions and marketing activity.

“We’ve seen really strong tourism recovery over the last 12 months, and we are moving the needle collectively as an industry for people to discover New Zealand,” de Monchy said. He said March was a particularly strong month, with arrivals up 15% on a year earlier, reinforcing confidence that the sector is on track for full recovery by the end of the year (Source: Statistics New Zealand Visitor Arrivals).

The benefits of tourism growth are being felt across the country. “What’s really encouraging is that every region in New Zealand is seeing growth in international visitor spend,” he said. “That collective lift is important for operators, for regions and for the wider economy.” (Source: MBIE Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates)

The impacts of fuel prices and global instability have so far not impacted travel to New Zealand much. “Tourism New Zealand is monitoring the impacts of the situation, at the moment booking patterns are positive overall and we have upweighted winter and ski activity in Australia and China to support.”

The next phase of growth would depend not only on demand, but on how well Tourism New Zealand and the tourism sector adapted to changing traveller behaviour.

“We need to harness the opportunity of AI and make sure our data is accurate, so New Zealand is discoverable to international visitors in this new world,” de Monchy said. “How we make ourselves easy to find — and trusted by the tools people are using to dream, plan and book — is going to be crucial to our future growth.”

“It’s not a replacement for the tourism system by any means, it’s another channel or factor in the travel purchase journey.”