Taxing foreign visitors
A tourism levy for foreign visitors to New Zealand is urgently needed. The explosion in foreign tourist numbers – 3.7 million last year, up from only 500,000 two decades ago – is putting great pressure on infrastructure, from toilets in small centres to the huts and walkways on DOC’s world-famous walks. The $25 a head levy promised by Labour at the election could also make a useful contribution towards DOC’s underfunded other main task, which is conservation of native species and the control of pests.
There are no good arguments against such a tax. It is a pure form of user-pays: since the avalanche of tourists has caused the strain on our infrastructure, it should be the tourists who fund its repair. What’s more, such a tax would not cause any significant resistance from the consumers themselves.
New Zealand travellers abroad know that many countries charge tourists in very many ways. Sometimes these fees are much higher than anything proposed in this country. Anyone in London, for instance, has to pay more than $30 to visit St Paul’s Cathedral. A single visit to the great church would cost more than the overall proposed tax paid by a foreign tourist in this country.
A tourism tax on foreigners could be levied by an arrival or departure tax. This would save the problem of how to charge foreigners more for particular tourist attractions such as DOC’s great walks or attractions like the Tongariro Crossing.
At the same time, some Kiwi institutions could have differential charges for foreigners. Te Papa, for instance, could charge foreigners at the door and has sometimes talked about doing so. Now it has dropped the proposal for reasons that remain obscure and which have not been adequately explained. About 43 per cent of Te Papa’s 1.6 million tourists are from overseas and pay only for special fee-paying exhibitions.
The museum gets $30 million a year from the government and last year had a deficit of $6 million. So why not start charging foreign tourists? The national museum has no social or educational duty to them, unlike its vaunted mission to reach those Kiwis who don’t traditionally go to museums.
The only issue about the charges is where to pitch it in order to avoid customer resistance. Right now, many foreign visitors are surprised not to be charged.
Some regional museums have taken up the principle and have decided to charge out-of-towners an entry fee. New Plymouth District Council decided in November to charge visitors $15 while residents will still be free.
This fee, however, really might turn visitors off. Council staff estimated the charge could cut visitor numbers by between 40 and 70 per cent. This problem won’t arise with the $25 overseas levy promised. But the tax will provide only a modest contribution to conservation. At present DOC can afford to use 1080 poisoning to control pests only on a small part of its estate.
The new coalition government has promised a substantial boost to conservation funding. But a serious campaign to stop the pests killing our native birds and forests will cost a fortune.