1
00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,160
Speaker 1: Well tourists and New Zealand's on the visit of visa

2
00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:05,600
Speaker 1: will soon be able to work remotely while here. The

3
00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:09,639
Speaker 1: change is targeting digital nomads, people employed by overseas companies

4
00:00:09,640 --> 00:00:12,440
Speaker 1: here on holiday and working at the same time in

5
00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:15,200
Speaker 1: the hope they'll spend more time and money in the country.

6
00:00:15,520 --> 00:00:18,880
Speaker 1: Tourism is currently in New Zealand's second largest export and

7
00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:21,640
Speaker 1: the latest visit in numbers from Statistics in New Zealand

8
00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:25,239
Speaker 1: show we're reaching eighty six percent of the pre COVID levels.

9
00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:29,480
Speaker 1: Linda Keen is the Tourism Export Council Chief Executive and

10
00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:31,760
Speaker 1: joins me now a very good morning to you, Linda.

11
00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:33,320
Speaker 2: Good morning Raman.

12
00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:36,400
Speaker 1: How much of a difference will this policy make, because

13
00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:38,159
Speaker 1: let's be honest, they've been working anyway.

14
00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:43,839
Speaker 2: Look, the third thing, Raman, is that this is very

15
00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:48,120
Speaker 2: encouraging that the government has now identified tourism as a

16
00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:52,199
Speaker 2: major economic driver and to help their growth agenda. What

17
00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:56,040
Speaker 2: difference will it make now? Not a lot in the

18
00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:59,000
Speaker 2: second half of the visitor season, which is is January

19
00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:01,640
Speaker 2: to March period, and the reason for that is that

20
00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:05,160
Speaker 2: New Zealan is a long hal destination. You have to

21
00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:09,200
Speaker 2: either have one or two long haul flights to reach US.

22
00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:13,080
Speaker 2: So if the target for America or Southeast Asian digital

23
00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,480
Speaker 2: nomads is for them to come to New Zealand, they

24
00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:21,120
Speaker 2: may not quickly switch to that right now. This type

25
00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:24,280
Speaker 2: of initiative would have been fantastic to have announced this

26
00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:25,760
Speaker 2: time last year.

27
00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:27,679
Speaker 1: All right, So you did say it won't make much

28
00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:29,640
Speaker 1: of a difference. When will it make a difference?

29
00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:33,680
Speaker 2: I think with the upcoming season. So the season starts

30
00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:37,200
Speaker 2: on the first of October, and because our digital nomad

31
00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:41,080
Speaker 2: and all visitors as a long haul destination, they take

32
00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:44,119
Speaker 2: their time to make a commitment to visit New Zealand.

33
00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:47,080
Speaker 2: We're a committed to destination. It's a little bit different

34
00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:51,120
Speaker 2: with Australia when we might decide tomorrow that we're going

35
00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:53,320
Speaker 2: to go to Australia for a short break, which is

36
00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:56,280
Speaker 2: a short haul destination. So it's going to take I

37
00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:58,520
Speaker 2: would say at least six months for us to see

38
00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:01,840
Speaker 2: any positive result with the digital nomad initiative.

39
00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:04,400
Speaker 1: All right, Okay, well, good things take time. I guess

40
00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:08,760
Speaker 1: could more quick changes have been made to improve visitor numbers.

41
00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:13,040
Speaker 2: Yes, we know the government's been working hard with trying

42
00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:16,639
Speaker 2: to get the economy back on track. Some of the

43
00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:19,880
Speaker 2: decisions that have made in the past twelve months, particularly

44
00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:25,120
Speaker 2: with increasing immigration, visa fees and the international Visitor and

45
00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:30,000
Speaker 2: Conservation levy, these are decisions that we knew, so these

46
00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,520
Speaker 2: were increases we knew we're probably going to come through,

47
00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:38,160
Speaker 2: but we suggested to government that the best time to

48
00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:40,160
Speaker 2: do that would have been from the first of October

49
00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,240
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five. And that's because the industry is still

50
00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,840
Speaker 2: in recovery. Our first season that we reached fifty five

51
00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:50,200
Speaker 2: percent of pre pandemic numbers. At the end of this season,

52
00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:54,320
Speaker 2: we only recovered at eighty three percent, and now on

53
00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:57,520
Speaker 2: an annual basis after another six months, we're only at

54
00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:01,639
Speaker 2: eighty four percent. So the timing of these initiatives absolutely critical.

55
00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:05,040
Speaker 2: But I'm saying that we're just really pleased that the

56
00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:08,919
Speaker 2: government have put tourism back as on their growth the gender,

57
00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:10,960
Speaker 2: and we're keen to partner and work with them to

58
00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:14,079
Speaker 2: get our visitors back as quipment as we can.

59
00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:18,000
Speaker 1: You did refer there to previous government decisions on migration

60
00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:20,120
Speaker 1: and increasing the levy fees and all that sort of

61
00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:23,720
Speaker 1: stuff hasn't had didn't have much of an effect on tourism.

62
00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:26,280
Speaker 1: And the economy. If you're faced with a fee to

63
00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:28,560
Speaker 1: go and enter our parks or whatever it might be,

64
00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:31,280
Speaker 1: is that going to put people off? Have you noticed that.

65
00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:36,480
Speaker 2: At this time? Yes, we have the inbound tour operators

66
00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:39,400
Speaker 2: that we work with. They have offshore tool wholesalers and

67
00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:44,480
Speaker 2: travel agents as their clients, and the word from the

68
00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:49,440
Speaker 2: offshore industry is that the timing of us increasing these

69
00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:53,600
Speaker 2: fees has certainly had an impact on visitors considering New

70
00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:56,720
Speaker 2: Zealand as a destination. We're in a global market to

71
00:03:56,720 --> 00:04:00,960
Speaker 2: try and get tourism back to recovery, and we're lagging somewhat.

72
00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:04,280
Speaker 2: So any type of initiative needs to have a little

73
00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:05,840
Speaker 2: bit of a runway, It needs a bit of a

74
00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:10,280
Speaker 2: lead time. And in hindsight, you know, the industry, we

75
00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:13,600
Speaker 2: do believe that these increase in fees have had an impact.

76
00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:15,640
Speaker 2: We knew they were going to come, but would have

77
00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:18,240
Speaker 2: hoped that they would have come later this year, not

78
00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:18,880
Speaker 2: last year.

79
00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:21,200
Speaker 1: All right, Linda, So in a nutshell, it's a good move.

80
00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:23,920
Speaker 1: It'll take time to bed in, but we'll reap the

81
00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:24,640
Speaker 1: benefits soon.

82
00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:26,640
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly one.

83
00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:29,400
Speaker 1: Oh good on your Linda, Linda Keen there, who's the

84
00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:32,839
Speaker 1: Tourism Council Chief Executive. Good stuff, good stuff with that

85
00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:35,960
Speaker 1: in Netflix and more milk and cheese being exported will

86
00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:38,000
Speaker 1: be away and laughing, We'll have enough to retire on

87
00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:41,280
Speaker 1: and no time at all for more from Early Edition

88
00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:44,240
Speaker 1: with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to News Talks it Be

89
00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:48,200
Speaker 1: from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio