The tourist tax is set to almost triple in New Zealand effective as of Tuesday, October 1, 2024, as the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy will increase from $35.00 to $100.00 in New Zealand dollars, which roughly translates to an increase from $22.00 to $62.00 in United States dollars.
Tourist Tax To Triple In New Zealand 2024
Although international visitors spent greater than $11 billion in the year ending March 2024, that tourism also comes with a price to local communities — including expenses for construction and improvements of regional infrastructure to handle the tourism; and higher upkeep and maintenance costs. New Zealand is a country which is quite serious about protecting its environment and its conservation efforts.
“Increasing the IVL means we can continue to grow international tourism to support economic growth while ensuring international visitors contribute to high-value conservation areas and projects, such as supporting biodiversity in national parks and other highly visited areas and improving visitor experiences on public conservation land,” Matt Doocey — who is the current minister for tourism and hospitality of New Zealand — is quoted as saying in this official press release. “A $100 IVL would generally make up less than 3 per cent of the total spending for an international visitor while in New Zealand, meaning it is unlikely to have a significant impact on visitor numbers.”
Rebecca Ingram does not agree with that statement. “Tripling the IVL to $100 is a barrier making New Zealand incredibly expensive to visit”, according to this official press release which quotes the current chief of Tourism Industry Aotearoa. “New Zealand’s tourism recovery is falling behind the rest of the world, and this will further dent our global competitiveness. Airline connectivity isn’t a nice to have for a country at the bottom of the world — it’s essential.”
Final Boarding Call
I was one of the visitors to New Zealand who contributed towards that greater than $11 billion earlier this year. Although I generally understand the reasons why the levy is being increased, it is still an additional expense that may discourage citizens of other countries from visiting New Zealand. If enough potential visitors decide to avoid going to New Zealand, the country could lose money — although I believe that is not likely to happen.
“I went to Turkey a few months ago after they gave visa free entry to US citizens” is what Mateo — who is a reader of The Gate With Brian Cohen — wrote in response to this article titled Sri Lanka To Offer Visa Free Entry to Visitors of 35 Countries. “So visa free access makes it more likely that we will visit.”
As with visas and other expenses to visit a country, sovereign states should do what they can to reduce costs to encourage visitors, in my opinion. When visitors have more money to spend, they will typically purchase more goods and services that are taxed by the government — so the country will potentially get its money anyway and then some; the visitor will save money; and the merchants will experience an increase in business.
Everyone potentially wins in that scenario…
All photographs ©2024 by Brian Cohen.
