James Doolan: You can't be a tourist on Google; why Auckland must reinvest in its visitor economy
This isn't just Auckland's challenge. Wellington faces similar issues, with its CBD struggling to regain foot traffic. Christchurch, meanwhile, is preparing to open its new stadium. This is a major opportunity to attract events and visitors, but only if supported by co-ordinated destination marketing and event attraction.
Auckland's investment in tourism and events remains well below pre-Covid levels. Before the pandemic, the city invested over $30 million annually in these areas. Today, we are limping along at a fraction of that. This is not a clever cost-saving strategy – it's a missed opportunity.
The return on investment for destination marketing is well established. Tourism New Zealand's 'Everyone Must Go' campaign has already delivered measurable results. If publicly funded tourism marketing works, why aren't we doubling down?
Some argue that the private sector should pick up the slack. But voluntary contributions from hotels and tourism operators are not a sustainable substitute for co-ordinated public investment. International-standard hotels already spend 5-7% of revenue on promotion and an additional 10-12% on commissions, so it's not like they're sitting idle!
Others call for new tourism taxes. Overseas, marketing levies are typically industry-led and industry-controlled. These include models such as Los Angeles' Tourism Improvement District (TID), funded by a levy on all accommodation types.
It's time to stop treating tourism as a sector that can be taxed without consultation. Former Mayor Phil Goff's failed Accommodation Provider Targeted Rate (APTR) is a case in point. It damaged trust and triggered costly litigation. Any new tourism funding model must be co-designed with industry and aligned with national strategy.
With local council elections approaching, voters have a chance to shape the future of our cities. Tourism is not just a sector – it's a solution. Let's ask candidates what they would do to revitalise our CBD.
We need councillors who understand tourism's value and promise to support it fully. That means restoring public investment in event attraction and destination marketing to at least pre-Covid levels, and doing it fast!
James Doolan is Strategic Director at Hotel Council Aotearoa and principal of Fantail Advisory.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
16 hours ago
- NZ Herald
NZ hotel occupancy lags pre-Covid levels, North-South gap widens
'Demand has started to turn positive again, which is a good sign, but it is not matching the supply growth, and therefore, why you've seen the occupancy declines we have seen across the country.' The Aotearoa Hotel Industry Conference and Exhibition is being hosted at Christchurch's Te Pae convention centre. Compared to other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, New Zealand's performance remained relatively flat, while countries like Australia, Japan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam had recovered strongly. New Zealand is performing better than countries like Thailand, Singapore and China, although there are several domestic factors influencing those locations. Burke said that summer 2025 was quite good in terms of rebounding but New Zealand's monthly occupancy levels and average daily rates for hotel rooms had become more seasonal than ever before. 'When you look at occupancy over the longer term, the impact of that supply and the sluggish nature of the demand recovery overall has meant that occupancy is nudging closer to the long-term average in the summer months, but certainly is still lagging and becoming more seasonal across New Zealand at large through winter and spring.' During the winter months, tourist numbers typically drop despite the diverse range of tourism operators and opportunities that continue to operate year-round. Over the next three years, Tourism New Zealand will be focused on growing off-peak visitation, according to its 2024-2028 strategy overview. Regional breakdown Across five of New Zealand's major tourism locations, Rotorua has had the strongest recovery over the current year to date because of an influx of international visitors and strong domestic tourism coming from Aucklanders. Christchurch had seen a small amount of growth. Burke said that demand had been growing at a healthy rate for a long period of time. The Garden City is also set to benefit from the opening of One New Zealand Stadium in April 2026, which has coincided with a spiking of forward occupancy rates in the same month. Queenstown, meanwhile, has also seen year-to-date growth, but demand has turned negative in the first half of 2025 on a year-on-year basis for each month. Burke said one thing that boded well for Christchurch and Queenstown in the medium term was the lack of rooms currently under construction, which won't drive a higher level of supply compared to the demand. STR regional director for APAC (ex China), Matthew Burke, presented data on New Zealand's hotel market during the Aotearoa Hotel Industry Conference and Exhibition event in Christchurch. Auckland and Wellington, however, are where there is cause for concern, as both occupancy levels and average daily rates are in the negative. Wellington has had its demand level decline for a considerable amount of time, although it did briefly grow during December 2024 and January 2025. 'Essentially, Wellington has had no new rooms recently, but because demand has just been negative, it's meant that occupancies decline and the average rate has come under pressure.' Burke said Wellington's woes could mostly be attributed to weekday business and the city's local economy, which had come under pressure following the Government's cuts to the public service and use of consultants. Auckland had had a consistent level of new supply coming to the market, but falling demand in the city was a 'recipe for occupancy decline,' Burke said. Around 50 of the 71 properties in Auckland were recording negative occupancy growth and negative average rate growth. There had also been a change in the mix of new supply, with strong growth in the luxury class of hotels. 'Upscale hotels in Auckland have actually had the least amount of new supply in the five and a half years since 2019.' Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger had a keynote speech at the Aotearoa Hotel Industry Conference and Exhibition, welcoming attendees to the Garden City. Burke said it's a collective demand problem influencing both occupancy level and average daily rates, where fewer events and more discretionary business were influencing the decline. Next year the new New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC) is due to open, providing a draw card for visitors. The NZICC is set to host 15,500 people at nine major conferences in Auckland over the next few years, with an estimated economic impact of roughly $34 million. In the shorter term, over the next 90 days, forward occupancy looks set to decline except for two spikes during which the All Blacks will be hosting test matches at Eden Park. Burke said the largest influence on Auckland's performance was the CBD area. Separating Auckland into the harbour front precinct, airport zone and CBD, Auckland's CBD has had the most new rooms open, but average rates and occupancy levels are lower today than they were in 2019. Burke stressed the need for a diversified mix of demand in terms of upscale accommodation versus mid-to-low level options to drive demand. 'It's even more critical when you get to the softer months, everyone is impacted in terms of year-over-year drops this year, but it is especially felt in the rest of the CBD area.' Forecast for next summer Looking ahead to the upcoming summer season, Queenstown is set to have the highest occupancy of the five cities, followed closely by Rotorua. However, Queenstown's occupancy rates are 7% lower than the same time last year. Burke said there were very different trends between the North and South Islands. He said occupancy levels in New Zealand were becoming more seasonal, and the data broadly points to stagnant growth without intervention. 'The data is predicting a very similar pattern moving forward, but the one piece of good news is that there is more demand drivers and more infrastructure to come. 'If it's supported by marketing programmes to get people travelling through, then we should start to see more demand, more occupancy, and the chance to start to lift average rates.' Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.
The Spinoff
17 hours ago
- The Spinoff
Echo Chamber: The big ‘G' word that Luxon doesn't want to say about Palestine
While cabinet spends the next month deciding whether to recognise Palestinian statehood, the opposition is more eager to know if New Zealand's done too little, too late. Echo Chamber is The Spinoff's dispatch from the press gallery, recapping sessions in the House. Columns are written by politics reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Wellington editor Joel MacManus. The government seemed wholly deflated during Tuesday's question time. Education minister Erica Stanford let the opposition drown her out with heckles while she tried to boast about receiving positive feedback like 'woohoo', building and construction minister Chris Penk bragged about sheds, and Andy Foster showed up with a big bandage on his head. Why? Foster never replied to a text from The Spinoff, so we'll never know. Speaker Gerry Brownlee seemed particularly fed up with the vibes, which was perhaps a bad omen of troubles to come. When Labour leader Chris Hipkins posed his usual starter question (does he stand by his government's statements and actions) to prime minister Christopher Luxon, who replied with just a 'yes', Brownlee asked the House, well, what's the point of that? 'What more can there be?' Brownlee wondered, with an air of desperation. 'Well, if you hold your breath, you'll find out,' Hipkins replied. Give it a go, Brownlee encouraged him, but there are still four more questions on this list that ask the same thing. After Hipkins followed up with a supplementary on whether Luxon stood by finance minister Nicola Willis saying that people who have lost their jobs 'shouldn't take it personally', Brownlee let him know his work was 'skillfully done'. But Luxon didn't want to talk about that. He pointed to a recently released Treasury report, highlighted earlier in the session by housing minister Chris Bishop (who wore three different ministerial hats while two of his caucus mates were away), which put the cost of Aotearoa's Covid-19 response at $66bn. And while Chippy was still keen to chat about employment, Luxon was stuck on the impacts of the Covid hangover, and let Hipkins know everyone should start calling him the '66 billion dollar man!' 'Because when I grew up as a kid, there was a show called The Six Million Dollar Man, and this member is the 66 billion dollar man!' Luxon paused for effect, but when he received very little reaction from his coalition members, Labour's Kieran McAnulty used the moment to outshine him: 'No one laughed!' Next up was Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick, who questioned Luxon over the government's recent announcement that it would consider recognising Palestinian statehood. His position, as he's oft repeated, is that Hamas must release their Israeli hostages, but Swarbrick wanted to know whether he was aware of the attempts to release these hostages, and the 10,000 Palestinians living in Israeli prisons. 'That's not what I've been briefed on,' Luxon replied, while NZ First's Shane Jones was more gung-ho about his point of view on the matter. 'Fiction!' Jones cried repeatedly. And when Swarbrick questioned whether Luxon was aware of Aotearoa's obligations under the Genocide Convention, he warned her not to throw that 'genocide' term around so willy nilly. So, she pressed him on whether he believed that was the appropriate term, but the PM couldn't quite wrap his lips around it, so he went with 'humanitarian catastrophe'. And then deputy prime minister David Seymour, puffed up on his perch next to Luxon, decided to butt in as usual. 'Point of order, Mr Speaker,' Seymour started – this member [aka Swarbrick] has just returned to her seat which is adorned with a Palestinian scarf, and I invite you to consider what this House might look like if everyone took a side in a global conflict and made that visible. 'No member should be allowed to do such a thing, particularly when you yourself have forbidden members from wearing tiny pins on their lapels,' he finished, while his caucus colleague Simon Court hastily removed his Act Party pin. 'I think you make a very good point,' Brownlee began, until a defiant Swarbrick swiped the keffiyeh draped over her seat and wore it around her neck instead. 'Stay warm,' Brownlee told her. 'We'll move on.' In a House where there are clear favourites in the eyes of the speaker, Swarbrick is indefinitely near the bottom of his list. Later, Te Pāti Māori's Debbie Ngarewa-Packer made her own attempt to pull Luxon's heartstrings over Palestine. But her questions on whether the PM could 'justify the targeted killings of journalists in Gaza' were shot down by Brownlee and Luxon, who told her that the prime minister of New Zealand is only responsible for New Zealand, and Seymour let her know she was 'slow on the rules'. Fair (not from Seymour), as question time is the opportunity to hold ministers to account on the issues that fall within their ministerial responsibilities. But a humanitarian catastrophe, as described earlier, can understandably leave a lot of people looking for leadership, and the barracking from the opposition showed that the government's pussyfooting around Israel has made them look, in their eyes, kinda pussy. 'Surely you can condemn that?' cried the Greens' Steve Abel, also adorned in a keffiyeh. 'Genocide apologist!' And when Luxon tried to remind the House the government had already committed $37m in humanitarian aid, the opposition simply wanted to know 'how much of it got in?', but Luxon didn't seem to be briefed on that. Eventually, the heckling from the opposition turned into roars for Luxon to 'grow a spine', 'show some spine' and not be 'spineless' – it's just ironic that the quietest person, who is usually the loudest, was the one later reprimanded for bringing any spine into the conversation at all.
Otago Daily Times
20 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Courier firm goes bust owing $1.2 million
Photo: Facebook A Christchurch courier company has buckled under financial pressure, owing creditors more than $1.2 million and leaving staff out of pocket. NJ & MS Holdings Ltd owes about $586,000 to Inland Revenue (IRD) and just over $632,000 to unsecured creditors, while staff claims are nearly $35,000. The company, trading as Point to Point, was placed in liquidation on the application of IRD in the High Court at Greymouth on June 30. An official assignee from Insolvency & Trustee Service was appointed liquidator and released an initial report last week. Previously registered under an office in Greymouth, the company's sole shareholder and director is listed as Taipua Feast at the NZ Companies Office. The business was closed after the company was assessed as being unable to be sold or generate enough income to continue trading. Secured creditors have advised they will repossess company assets. In the report the official assignee said the director advised the reasons for liquidation were a lack of funds to finance legal action, economic conditions, lack of business activity, excessive overheads, inability to collect debts and lack of sufficient working capital. A failure to provide for taxation and Covid and a breakdown in communication with a client also played against the company. Money owed by clients is estimated at $38,000 with $6500 remaining in bank accounts and the value of vehicles and plant and equipment yet to be determined. Among the listed creditors are about 17 staff and nearly 20 companies providing finance, banking, IT, fuel, mobile and vehicle repair and other services. On Point to Point's website, the business offered urgent courier services in Canterbury and across the South Island, same-day truck deliveries and out-of-town runs.
