It’s Friday, the day after Parliament dissolved, and tourism has its first election pledge of the campaign. Five items. Here’s what’s moving.
National says it would trial passport-free travel with Australia before the 2028 T20 World Cup
National leader Christopher Luxon and tourism spokesperson Louise Upston announced yesterday at Coronet Peak, near Queenstown, that a re-elected National government would work with Australia on a trial of fully digital trans-Tasman travel. Australian and New Zealand passport holders would submit their passport and travel details before departure, complete the New Zealand Traveller Declaration, have identity and eligibility checked digitally, and use a dedicated trans-Tasman arrival pathway at Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown airports, built on the existing eGate and facial-recognition systems. The pitch is no paper passport at the gate. The target is to have the trial running before the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which the two countries co-host from 21 October to 19 November 2028. Biosecurity does not change: travellers still declare goods and bags can still be searched.
Two things to hold against the announcement. It needs Australia, and nothing in it says Canberra has agreed to anything beyond the work both prime ministers endorsed in 2024. And the idea is not new. Labour leader Chris Hipkins pointed out that he and Anthony Albanese agreed in 2023 to finish this work within 12 months, and asked “what’s taken them so long?” Luxon’s answer was that it spans governments and needs steady chipping away. For the industry, the attraction is obvious from the arrivals data below: Australians were more than half of all visitors in July, and short trips are where time lost at the airport counts most. The timetable, two years out and dependent on another government, is the part to watch.
Stat of the day
134,900
Visitor arrivals from Australia in July 2026, a July record and about 53 percent of the 256,600 overseas visitors that month. (Stats NZ)
Source: National Party via Scoop, 1News, RNZ, Stats NZ
One TRENZ was worth an estimated $100 million in sales a year later
Independent research by NZIER, commissioned by the Tourism Industry New Zealand Trust, tracked what came out of TRENZ 2025 in Rotorua over the following year. It estimates international buyers made $100 million of sales with New Zealand tourism businesses as a result, adding about $21 million to GDP. The host region took an estimated $16 million of those sales and $4 million of GDP. Sellers reported an 85 percent return on what they spent to attend, or about $1.85 back for every dollar. TIA chief executive Rebecca Ingram said a buyer signing an operator at the show “becomes visitors in our towns over the following years”.
The number that matters to an operator deciding whether to go is the return, not the headline, and it is self-reported, so treat it as a ceiling rather than a floor. Even so, it is the first tracked measure of what the show delivers rather than what it costs, and it lands as registrations open for TRENZ 2027 in Ōtautahi Christchurch, 11 to 13 May. Applications close on 19 November or when the show is full.
Source: Tourism Industry Aotearoa via Scoop
DOC puts another 62 huts and campsites online, and the backcountry hut ticket goes digital next month
The Department of Conservation has added 62 more huts and campsites to its online booking system: 30 opened for bookings on 1 September for stays from 1 October, and 32 more opened yesterday for stays from 1 November. Most of the latest batch sit on busy Canterbury and Nelson/Tasman sections of Te Araroa, including huts in Arthur’s Pass National Park, along the St James Walkway and through Richmond Forest Park. All DOC serviced huts are now bookable, and the paper Serviced Hut Ticket is retired.
The bigger change starts on 1 November. Backcountry Hut Tickets for the huts that cannot be booked, the large majority of DOC’s roughly 950, will be sold through the same online system at $15 per adult per night. Walkers pick the hut and date and carry the confirmation. Paper tickets remain valid for a 12-month transition, until 1 November 2027. DOC’s stated reason is crowding at the busier places, and for anyone guiding or outfitting on Te Araroa it means the summer through-walker season will run on bookings for the first time on those stretches.
Source: Department of Conservation via LiveNews, Stuff
Savor is spending $20 million on the Viaduct as hospitality liquidations rise
Savor Group, which runs 15 venues across Auckland including Amano, told its annual meeting this week it will build a roughly 2,000-square-metre precinct behind its Bivacco site on the Viaduct: an Amano bakery and deli, and a new Japanese venue, both targeting spring 2027. Newsroom reports the development is expected to add about $6 million of annual revenue. The company swung to a $1.3 million net profit for the year to 31 March, from a $1.2 million loss, even as revenue fell to $55.2 million. Chairman Paul Robinson credited tighter control of labour, cost of goods and overheads, and told shareholders that 422 hospitality companies had entered liquidation in the past 12 months, up from 297 the year before.
This is what a counter-cyclical bet looks like in hospitality: the operator that cut costs and debt when trade was soft gets first pick of prime sites while single-venue competitors close. It is also a bet that the waterfront crowd of visitors, corporate clients and higher-income locals holds up better than the mass market. Sales fell for a second year, so nobody should read it as proof that spending has turned.
The Amazing Race brings Christchurch to North American television this season
Season 39 of the American reality series The Amazing Race premiered on CBS this week, and Christchurch and Canterbury feature in it. Host Phil Keoghan grew up in the city and had promised to come back after the earthquake rebuild. Contestants were filmed along the Avon River and near the Edmonds Band Rotunda, with Māori participants in a waka on the river, and the Port Hills and the new stadium also appear. Air New Zealand, ChristchurchNZ and other destination partners are running a competition for viewers in the United States and Canada to win an Amazing Race-designed trip for two to Christchurch, covering many of the places shown. No broadcast date in New Zealand has been confirmed.
Neither partner has said what the exposure cost, so there is no return to judge yet. What it does is put a city usually sold as a gateway in front of a large North American audience as a destination in its own right.
Coming up
- 4 October: Writ day for the general election
- 8 October: The old visitor visa application forms close and remaining drafts are deleted
- 14 October: CAA consultation on the security levy cut closes at noon, and Stats NZ releases international travel figures for August
- 28 October: Reserve Bank OCR decision, and Air New Zealand’s first Christchurch to Singapore service
- 1 November: Backcountry Hut Tickets move to DOC’s online booking system
- 4 November: Tourism Summit Aotearoa and the NZ Tourism Awards, Te Pae Christchurch
- 7 November: General election
- 19 November: Applications close for TRENZ 2027
- 11 to 13 May 2027: TRENZ 2027, Ōtautahi Christchurch
That's today's briefing. The Shoulder Season is back every weekday morning.