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Speaker 1: So what do we make of the latest tourism numbers.

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Speaker 1: We have arrivals and spend International visitors. Spending is up

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Speaker 1: almost ten percent on last year now pulling in over

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Speaker 1: twelve billion. We had three point three two million visitors arrive,

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Speaker 1: which is up four point three percent. The Minister is

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Speaker 1: Louise Upston, who's with us. Very good morning, good morning

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Speaker 1: to you.

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Speaker 2: Mite.

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Speaker 1: Still below COVID though.

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Speaker 2: Yes, it's frustrating. So we're at eighty six percent of

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Speaker 2: what we were pre COVID, So we know we've got

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Speaker 2: work ahead of us, which is why part of our

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Speaker 2: sort of twenty point four million dollar tourism boost was

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Speaker 2: really to drive those visitor numbers and it's really exciting

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Speaker 2: the industries on board and there's a real enthusiasm so

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Speaker 2: bringing more visitors to New Zealand.

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Speaker 1: I don't think it was you, but I talked to

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Speaker 1: someone in tourism in the last couple of months and

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Speaker 1: they were spinning the line that the spenders back to

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Speaker 1: what it was. And what I didn't realize at the

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Speaker 1: time but do now, is that they were spinning the

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Speaker 1: line because it didn't include inflation. Now is the industry

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Speaker 1: deluding itself? In other words, they're pretending things are better

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Speaker 1: than they are.

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Speaker 2: No. So if you look at the visit to number,

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Speaker 2: so we're sitting at eighty six percent of pre COVID

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Speaker 2: and in terms of international spending that to AD eighty

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Speaker 2: six percent as well. So we are on a part.

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Speaker 2: What we have to do is make sure we are

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Speaker 2: focusing our efforts on the markets that we know spend

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Speaker 2: more and stay longer. So China, for example, is well

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Speaker 2: down on what the numbers were pre COVID and that's

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Speaker 2: why as part of the most recent announcement, we've got

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Speaker 2: focused efforts on the China market and reducing the friction,

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Speaker 2: like we did with the removing the certification requirements that

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Speaker 2: we announced at trends a few weeks back.

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Speaker 1: They are lost course, and I don't mean to be

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Speaker 1: negative in saying that, but they are not coming back.

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Speaker 1: Then they've seem to have won, got an economy that's problematic.

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Speaker 1: And two, where they do travel, they seem to be

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Speaker 1: traveling sort of regionally now as opposed to coming to

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Speaker 1: places like New Zealand.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think they were getting mixed messages from us

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Speaker 2: about whether we were open for business, whether we wanted

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Speaker 2: them to come or not so since I've been Minister,

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Speaker 2: I've been very clear that New Zealand is open for business.

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Speaker 2: We want our visitors to return, and we welcome Chinese

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Speaker 2: visitors back. We want them to come back in the

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Speaker 2: numbers they were. They do travel slightly differently than they

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Speaker 2: used to do, so they travel more independently than in groups.

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Speaker 2: But look, we've got plenty of capacity. There wouldn't be

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Speaker 2: many businesses around New Zealand that aren't looking for more customers.

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Speaker 2: And that's what we're going to do. We've got to

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Speaker 2: make sure that visitors know we're open and welcoming for

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Speaker 2: them to come.

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Speaker 1: How big a headaches Queenstown because Queenstown's booming to the

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Speaker 1: point where it's hard to get around, whereas the rest

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Speaker 1: of the country needs the tourists that are in Queenstown.

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Speaker 1: What do we do about that?

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Speaker 2: Well, that's when when we talk about the Regional Boost campaign.

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Speaker 2: It's about moving visitors into our regions. So they might

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Speaker 2: land in Queenstown, but let's get keep them out through

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Speaker 2: Central Osago, flying out of Dunedin, for example, And so

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Speaker 2: we focus on regional dispersal. We want to make sure

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Speaker 2: that people are traveling around the country around the regions,

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Speaker 2: staying for longer, which also means they are more likely

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Speaker 2: to spend more money which when they're here, which is

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Speaker 2: crucial for our growing economy.

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Speaker 1: All right, stay at it. Louise Upston, Minister of Tourism,

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Speaker 1: with us this morning. By the way, in New Zealand

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Speaker 1: sticking bigger planes on a couple of Routsumbury pleas to

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Speaker 1: report Auckland, christ Church, aalklan Quens Down, Auckland and Nedin

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Speaker 1: from the end of this month until October. That's an

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Speaker 1: extra thirty six thousand seats. Six hundred and sixteen flights

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Speaker 1: are going to be up gauged is what they call it.

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Speaker 1: You put a bigger plane on when thirty seven new

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Speaker 1: flights actually added. They're pulling out the A three twenty

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Speaker 1: and putting in the A three twenty one Neo. So

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Speaker 1: that's all good. For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast,

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