Boom over: Travel to New Zealand takes a hit

‘‘The boom is over.’’ Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts is blunt about the outlook as arrivals from key markets, such as China, fall.

At the last of four regional industry forums – held in Christchurch yesterday – he gave tourism operators the message that the days of double digit growth in international visitors were over and they needed to adjust. ‘‘We’re still growing but at a much slower rate and we may come to a complete standstill this year; we may get to zero.’’

Roberts said tourism had done well out of international numbers rising almost 40 per cent in five years, and some businesses viewed the current situation as an opportunity to take ‘‘a bit of a breather’’.

There was little panic about the slowing growth, even though some operators had experienced a fall in business. ‘‘If a large part of your business is young Germans, that market is down, maybe 15-20 per cent, so within the industry some people will be having a bit of pain, but generally they are saying we can’t complain too much because we have had four or five really good years, and it could never go on forever.’’

Visitor spending was continuing to climb, surpassing $40 billion annually, but falling consumer confidence in Australia, Britain and China was affecting visitor numbers. Roberts said spending on domestic tourism was up 10 per cent in Australia, our largest visitor market, and more Aussies holidaying at home was not good for New Zealand.

And Boris Johnson’s elevation to prime minister might encourage some Brits to think twice about ‘‘whether they can have that once in a lifetime trip to New Zealand’’.

Chinese visitors, once predicted to hit a million per year by 2022, were down 10 per cent for the first six months of 2019, despite it being the official China New Zealand Year of Tourism. Roberts said that event was more about developing long-term relationships.

The continuing drop in Chinese visitors reflected concern about a United States-china trade war.

Processing of visitor visas for Indian holiday-makers was still a major concern, with some Indian travel agents halting sales of New Zealand holidays until lengthy delays were resolved.

November and December were popular months for the Indian market and tourism operators were hoping Immigration NZ sorted processing issues in time for the expected wave of visa applications.

Roberts also emphasised the need to counter a growing backlash against long-haul travel as ‘‘flight shaming’’ became a trend.

He said offsetting carbon produced by a flight to New Zealand cost about $40, yet only about 5 per cent of travellers took that option.