TIA strongly welcomes the visitation New Zealand receives from our international visitors and the wide benefits that this generates for New Zealanders both directly and then through wider benefits such to brand NZ, our export sectors and the connectedness that New Zealand gains to the world.  

Well managed, there is plenty of scope for international tourism to New Zealand to grow and flourish. Visitors to New Zealand have ongoing benefit to New Zealand, for instance by being word-of-mouth champions of New Zealand, consumers of our exports (wine and food, etc.) and as repeat visitors through their lifetimes. To get these gains, TIA advocates for balanced growth that brings additional demand while ensuring we manage our place to a high standard.         

The other important aspect of international travel is the outbound travel of New Zealanders who benefit from the connectivity of New Zealand to the world. Kiwis are great travellers, with 3.3 million outbound trips in 2019 from our population of 5 million.  

That year, there were 3.8 million international arrivals, which is not much more than outbound travel by New Zealanders, reinforcing the importance of both traveller groups in terms of our connectivity to the world.