Nicola Willis is also Finance Minister. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi
Newly minted minister for economic growth Nicola Willis says boosting tourism numbers is top priority as the government moves away from its predecessor's plans on higher-value visitors.
Willis, who is also the finance minister, told Morning Report her new role will look at how to grow the economy so New Zealand is an attractive place to live in the future.
The government would not be following Labour's previous strategy of focusing primarily on attracting the higher-value tourists, she later suggested to RNZ.
"I want all tourists, because ultimately it's not the government that decides how much a tourist spends when they come to New Zealand. That tourist will make that decision," she said.
"Our job is to make it easy for them to come in the door, easy for them to come to New Zealand ... then when they get here I've great faith in our tourism providers that they'll do everything they can to get as many dollars out of those back pockets as possible."
She said she "absolutely" wanted to see Chinese visitor numbers back to pre-Covid levels.
"Every time a Chinese tourist comes to New Zealand and they spend money in our local businesses, they spend money with our local tourism operators, that's good jobs for Kiwis, that's money for our small business owners that translates into the ability to pay workers more."
The first step would be looking at how funding was currently being used for tourism, she said - something the new Tourism Minister Louise Upston would be looking at.
After that, visa processing, marketing campaigns and spending the funding coming from the international visitor levy.
Introduced in 2019, the levy was increased from $35 to $100 in October. The price bump came alongside significant increases to visa application fees - including for visitor visas.
Willis pushed back on questions about whether infrastructure was ready to support an influx of visitors, saying more tourism would mean more cash going through the tills of small businesses and pointing to regional deals as a way to improve that infrastructure.
"Yes, there will be all sorts of arguments made against why people might not want more tourists in their town ... actually when we've got more tourists coming, more tourists spending, that's good for jobs, it's good for growth and it's good for the wealth of individual New Zealand families."
It comes as inflation is heading into more manageable territory, but GDP was still in the negatives when it was last updated in December.
When asked, Willis noted her new role had previously been held by Melissa Lee, under the title of "economic development".
Lee was demoted from cabinet in April last year and sacked from her remaining ministerial roles last week during a reshuffle.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon had asked Willis personally to take on the responsibility of the portfolio, Willis said.
She later told RNZ tourism services themselves would have the best idea of how to grow the industry.
"I've been encouraged by the fact that we've seen more North Americans coming to New Zealand, I want to see more people coming from those major markets."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
