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Speaker 1: Finally some good news for the tourism sector. The tourists

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Speaker 1: are back and they're spending the big bucks. New data

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Speaker 1: shows that international tourism expenditure was up fifty nine point

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Speaker 1: nine percent. They spent sixteen point nine billion dollars in

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Speaker 1: New Zealand. To give you some sort of comparison, in

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Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, it was seventeen point two billion, So it's

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Speaker 1: pretty much back there. The numbers are promising, and Tourism

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Speaker 1: Holding CEO Grant Webster joins me. Now, good morning to

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Speaker 1: your grant.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Andrew.

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Speaker 1: So finally it's happened. What's causing the increase?

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Speaker 2: Ah, this was the way it's going to happen. You know,

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Speaker 2: it's in our DNA on a global basis that we

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Speaker 2: want to get out and about and visit the world.

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Speaker 2: So people look at the opportunity and New Zealand to

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Speaker 2: an attractive destination. So that coming.

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Speaker 1: So why is domestic tourism down?

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Speaker 2: Oh that's just a somewhat be the economy, but it's

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Speaker 2: the growth and outbound as well. So just like people

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Speaker 2: want to come here, is the number of New Zealanders

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Speaker 2: want to get back out overseas. So that's understandable.

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Speaker 1: So how is the tourism industry reacting because it's a

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Speaker 1: people Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Look, I mean there's something like a fifteen percent increase

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Speaker 2: in the number of tourism businesses in that satellite account

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Speaker 2: information that came out yesterday as well. That's great. So

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Speaker 2: we're actually attracting more employment. People are seeing as an

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Speaker 2: opportunity to start their own business, and so I think

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Speaker 2: the industry is responding really really well. It's exciting.

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Speaker 1: Okay, now, Queen Sound Civic officials were in the news yesterday.

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Speaker 1: They're unhappy that the country has moved from high wealth tourists,

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Speaker 1: which was the labor thing, to what seems to be

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Speaker 1: mass tourism. Anyone who wants to come here, come on,

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Speaker 1: everyone must go. They say that approach is unsustainable without

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Speaker 1: a big infrastructure spend. Do they have a point.

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Speaker 2: I think that it's a very small point that's relative

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Speaker 2: to a few locations at a very short time of

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Speaker 2: the year. Now, the reality is New Zealand's expensive. You know,

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Speaker 2: our total visiting numbers haven't got back to pre COVID,

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Speaker 2: but as you said in your opening, we're very close

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Speaker 2: to total spend, so we're inexpensive. This we're already getting

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Speaker 2: high value tourists. That's who comes. People who are sort

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Speaker 2: of masterism go to different destinations that are a lot cheaper.

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Speaker 2: So we're already getting high value tourists. And we've got

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Speaker 2: plenty of infrastructure throughout the country that can sustain really

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Speaker 2: good growth for a number of years to come. So

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Speaker 2: maybe there's some places at peak times of the year

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Speaker 2: that need some support and that will come.

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Speaker 1: That'll come, okay, So what is the industry doing to

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Speaker 1: support this trend of improvement continuing? And how do you

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Speaker 1: feel about everyone must go?

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Speaker 2: Ah, So look, it's great to have any kind of

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Speaker 2: campaign that's going to support the winter tourism business, and

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Speaker 2: that's what that campaign's targeting. Australia's coming here over the

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Speaker 2: next short period. We've been bereafed of a good event

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Speaker 2: strategy for some time, so we haven't had any big

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Speaker 2: events since over winter, since the FIFA worldcame. So I

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Speaker 2: think that's all good. Let's let's go the tagline. Some

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Speaker 2: people love it, some people don't. Let's buy to buy.

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Speaker 2: The pointers were out there and we're asking for business

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Speaker 2: and so I think the industry's in behind tourism New

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Speaker 2: Zealand and wants to see them do well.

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Speaker 1: Grab we webisode. I Thank you for your time today.

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Speaker 1: Granted is the CEO of Tourism Holdings.

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