Auckland 13 August 2024 – Board of Airline Representatives (BARNZ) says that steep increases to visa costs will reduce tourist arrivals to New Zealand, with wide ranging impacts. “It is difficult to understand why New Zealand would choose to increase visa fees so sharply when New Zealand is experiencing softening demand for international visitors,” says Cath O’Brien, Executive Director at BARNZ.

Following a closed consultation process which did not include the aviation sector, fees for almost every visa type will increase substantially from 1 October 2024, affecting those who plan to visit New Zealand in the coming summer.  “Airline schedules are now finalised for the summer season,” says O’Brien. “Planned air services for destination New Zealand for summer 2024 reveals just a 2% increase on summer 2023.  New Zealand’s tourism recovery has slowed almost to standstill. Yet New Zealand is piling cost onto those same international visitors we claim we want to attract.”

Any reduction in international visitors will impact a wide range of New Zealand businesses. Beyond airlines, this means the accommodation sector, tourism experiences, hospitality and others.   Increases to international student visa costs will reduce New Zealand’s competitiveness as a destination for international students. “I’d suggest young adults planning to visit New Zealand on working holiday schemes will look elsewhere when the cost of their visa is $670 NZD.”

“Given the government has now raised costs for visitors, students and workers who wish to come to New Zealand, adding more cost in the form of an increased International Visitor Levy (IVL) should be taken off the table,” says O’Brien, referring to proposals that the IVL be raised as high as $100 a person. “A reduction in tourist arrivals will in time reduce air connectivity, which will reduce available cargo space to and from New Zealand. We cannot risk turning the stalling tourism market into a formal decline by endlessly increasing costs for those who wish to contribute to New Zealand’s economy.  If we do, we will cement a tourism decline which will take years to recover from.”

Ends

For media enquiries, please contact: Cath O’Brien, Executive Director, BARNZ

M: +64 21 730 557