Once regarded as a sleepy backwater floating on the edge of the vast Pacific, New Zealand in 2020 is firmly etched on the map of destinations that international travellers would like to visit. A rockstar economy, an outrageously beautiful and untouched landscape, gold medal wines; a country run by a young Prime Minister, icon of feminist effectiveness and the global darling of the learned left.
Tourism is big business in New Zealand. According to figures published by Tourism Industry Aoteoroa, annual tourism expenditure is £20.5B (USD $26.9B) with international visitors representing over 40% of that spend. In a small country of not quite 5 million people, these numbers directly represent some 10% of annual GDP, with almost 15% of the nation’s workforce employed directly or indirectly in tourism in New Zealand. Aside from paying wages, tourism provides a further £1.9B (USD $2.5B) to government coffers via GST, the nation’s sales tax.
And what a country to visit! Wealthy tourists and backpackers alike flock to ‘Middle Earth’ every year, to experience its pristine beaches, its snow-capped mountain ranges, prehistoric rain forests, majestic glaciers, and it’s pure running rivers and deep water lakes. What the locals take for granted renders the first time visitor spellbound and awestruck. Almost 4 million people visited New Zealand in 2019 alone.
But in 2020 the borders are closed to all other than returning New Zealand nationals and essential workers as defined by the Government. There is a mandatory requirement for a two week hotel quarantine for all arrivals, the cost of which is borne by the returnee. International tourism is rendered unviable, and the Beehive’s desire for New Zealand to remain COVID free means that there is currently no end date in sight. Boom tourist towns like Queenstown and Wanaka are already facing 40% unemployment. This would have previously been unthinkable.
What happens next is anyone’s guess but waiting for a vaccine for COVID-19 seems like an anxious bet for New Zealand’s travel, tourism, hospitality and leisure workers. The country is still waiting for the materialisation of the trans-Tasman tourism bubble, and without the influx of Australian skiers, hikers, wine-drinkers and cruisers, it is a huge ask for the domestic market to fill the hole left by the international tourist dollars that cannot make their way through customs. We watch with bated breath to see what happens to the New Zealand tourism industry.