New Zealand Announces New Tourist Tax
by Jessica Montevago
Visitors coming into New Zealand will be charged a tourist tax of NZ$35 ($24.40) per visitor starting in mid-2019. Photo: Shutterstock.com.
After a surge in tourism over the last four years, New Zealand’s government has announced that it will impose a tourist tax to fund conservation and infrastructure in the country.
Beginning in mid-2019, the government will charge a tax of up to NZ$35 ($24.40) per person from international visitors other than neighboring Australians, who will be exempt. The tax is expected to bring in an additional NZ$57 million to NZ$80 million ($39.7 million-$55.8 million) a year.
New Zealand saw visitor numbers leap almost 30 percent since 2015 to 3.8 million in the year to April, according to data from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
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“It’s only fair that they make a small contribution so that we can help provide the infrastructure they need and better protect the natural places they enjoy,” Minister for Tourism Kelvin Davis told Reuters.
International visitors will be charged during visa applications.
Tourist taxes are becoming commonplace as more people take part in leisure travel, with many European cities and countries enforcing their own version, including Amsterdam, Greece, and Spain’s Balearic Islands.
