NZ Engine

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Tourism New Zealand is confident it can hit $5 billion off-peak plan targets
• Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Rebecca Ingram is calling for their industry to remain on the radar of political parties this election and not lose momentum
• She says the sector is feel optimistic about next 12 months and forward bookings have been positive for summer
• Tourism New Zealand’s latest global campaign has been seen 178 million times

Tourism New Zealand says it’s on track to hit its visitor arrival targets after receiving millions of dollars from the government.

In April, the organisation received a $13.5 million boost to attract an extra 23,000 international visitors by the end of March 2026 and bring in an additional $100m.

Less than two months later, the government announced another $13.5m to help attract 72,000 visitors from China, Australia and the United States over the next few years.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive René de Monchy said the recent month-on-month visitor growth rate has been promising and there was a pretty positive outlook for the summer.

The funding meant they had worked closely with major markets to drive a bit of urgency around people deciding to book a trip to Aotearoa, he said.

In June, a new marketing campaign inviting the world to find their 100 percent Pure New Zealand was launched, which de Monchy said was able to go live earlier because of the additional funding.

“It means it’s been seen 178 million times in our key markets. It’s driven 300,000 people to visit NewZealand.com, which is our core website, to find out more about New Zealand to start their planning and hopefully entice them into getting the bookings,” he said.

“It’s doing its job in terms of really priming the audience.

The campaign cost more than $5m and was part of the 100% Pure NZ legacy campaign.

In 2024, Tourism New Zealand launched a strategy to grow tourism by $5 billion over the next four years, putting particular attention into enticing travellers outside of the busy summer season.

About 70 percent of that spending growth – or $3.5b – was meant to be achieved outside of peak season.

Total international visitor spend reached $12.3b, a 5.3 percent increase, in the year to September, according to the government figures.

De Monchy said it was positive progress.

“I’m confident we’ll get to those numbers.”

There had been a lot of focus on tourism this year and the industry had been buoyed by the momentum, he said.

“That’s a really good sign that people are feeling more optimistic and more certainty, hiring more people, investing in their products and in their businesses. Those are all really good positive signals, he said.

Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Rebecca Ingram agreed, saying forward bookings were looking positive and the industry had real momentum.

She attributed that to the government’s tourism focus and investments, targeted marketing from Tourism New Zealand, changes in visa settings and new and exciting changes on the horizon including the upcoming opening of the One NZ Stadium in Christchurch.

But businesses had different experiences based on where they were in the country with some of the main centres finding it tougher this year than parts of the South Island, Ingram said.

Domestic travel had also been quite variable and business travel was also down.

The government has set its sights on doubling the value of tourism exports by 2034, growing the number of Kiwis working in tourism and hospitality, and restoring international visitor arrivals to at least 2019 levels.

She was pleased by the work to meet those targets – the Tourism Growth Roadmap, saying it was an opportunity to “shift a gear in the way we do tourism”.

That included tackling issues including workforce, data, sustainability, funding, regions and communities.

But she did not want that energy or focus to be lost as New Zealand entered an election year.

“If there is a change of government next year, that that work isn’t lost and that focus isn’t lost and that we continue to have our eyes set on what do we want tourism to look like in the future and what does that mean for the decisions that we make today,” Ingram said.

De Monchy said the industry still faced challenges, travel was a discretionary spend, the cost of advertising was rising and competition was tough.

China had been slower to recover and travel from the United States, while strong overall, had been wobbly in recent months following geopolitical uncertainty, he said.

But there were also opportunities.

Currently, Australia, China and the United States account for about 60 percent of international visitors.

There would always be a big focus on those main markets, but Tourism New Zealand was considering where to branch out further, he said.

“Markets like India, that still is the medium term significant opportunity for New Zealand. At the moment, you can’t fly direct, it’s quite complicated,” he said.

But a partnership between Air New Zealand and Air India had paved the way for more optimism.

He also believed visitors from Thailand, Malaysia and other countries in South East Asia could be attracted to New Zealand.

The tourism industry was preparing for artificial intelligence to play a greater role in how people travel.

The sector has been facing a rapid rise in new technology with some hotels already using robots for room service and some airlines using digital bag tags.

Ingram said smartphones were now the most useful travel tool used for recommendations, translations and planning an itinerary.

“Unsurprisingly, AI is changing that landscape so 40 percent of travellers, this is some CANTAR research that was done recently, are using AI to plan their travel,” she said

There needed to be a concerted effort for how tourism businesses would show up in this world of AI, she said.

As for the travel trends ahead, embracing nature and wellness tourism were high on the agenda for many and New Zealand was well placed for travellers seeking to enhancing their well-being or those wanting wild wellness in the great outdoors, Ingram said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Wild weather battered much of the North Island on Monday, disrupting campers, and there’s more stormy conditions on the way.

Follow the latest updates here:

What’s today’s forecast?

Strong wind warnings for the northern and central parts of the North Island have expired but several regions remain in the firing line.

Electra was reporting power cuts on the Kapiti Coast affecting Paekakariki, Foxton and Shannon on Tuesday morning.

On the West Coast, Buller Electricity Ltd said the power was off to Karamea, Little Wanganui and Karamea Bluff.

Metservice said another day of heavy rain and strong south-east gales was in store for central New Zealand.

A strong wind warning was in place for Marlborough Sounds, Nelson and the West Coast north of Fox Glacier until 2pm, with Wellington under a wind watch until 9pm.

Heavy rain watches are in force for the Tararua District and Wairarapa until 4pm, and the Kaikoura Coast until 9pm.

Tauranga City Council has cancelled all five of its community New Year’s Eve events because of the bad weather forecast.

The council said weather reports indicated heavy rain and strong winds during event set-up, with conditions highly likely to continue into Wednesday.

It said fireworks displays would hopefully still take place from various locations around the city on New Year’s Eve.

A Turbulent Tuesday today!

North Island

️ – A band of rain, stretching from Waitomo to the Bay of Plenty this morning, continues to track southwards followed by occasional showers and some afternoon fine breaks.
⛈️ – Thunderstorms possible for Waitomo, Taumarunui and Taranaki… pic.twitter.com/M4ro4px9Ib

— MetService NZ (@MetService) December 29, 2025

Cleanup continues

In the parts of the South Island, strong winds brought down trees overnight.

• Has your holiday been disrupted by the weather? Email iwitness@rnz.co.nz with your photos or information.

Fire and Emergency said State Highway 7 over the Rahu Saddle, between Reefton and Springs Junction, was affected.

State Highway 6 also had trees coming down, particularly through the Whangamoa Hills between Nelson and Blenheim.

Firefighters were still being called out into the evening across the North Island, taking the total number of weather-related jobs to about 140 in Auckland, Northland, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty.

PowerCo said hundreds of properties remain without power north of Whanganui, and around Palmerston North and Feilding.

Campground holidays disrupted

Campground managers in the North Island are hoping for sunnier weather leading up to New Year’s after a lashing of wind and rain.

Wild weather battered much of the North Island on Monday, disrupting campers, causing power outages and downing trees.

In Auckland a roof was torn off an unoccupied home in Hillsborough, as fire crews responded to more than 100 weather-related callouts.

The manager of Kūaotunu Campground on the Coromandel Peninsula, Yvette Davey, said the weather had caused a bit of disruption on Monday.

“We have had a couple of campers that their tents were destroyed so they had to go home, other than that people are hunkering down, it’s settled down here,” she said.

Leanne Mills, the owner of Long Bay Motor Camp in Coromandel said campers were not too put off by the wet weather.

“We’ve had a bit of rain [on Monday] but we’ve been lucky campers have just used it as a crash day, just chill out, read a book, sleep,” she said.

“We’ve just got continued support from our regulars, mostly 90 percent Kiwis, so they’ll come and just meet up every year with the same people year after year and they don’t really care if it rains.”

Festivalgoers for New Year’s events such as Rhythm and Vines in Gisborne have been warned to watch out for wild weather on the roads.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A man has died in hospital after being struck by a car in Napier on Saturday.

The man was hit around 10pm on McGrath Street, and suffered critical injuries.

Police said the man died on Monday.

Police would like to speak to any witnesses and are continuing to investigate the incident. Anyone with information can contact police via 105 and quote file number 251227/1644.

Prior to this death, the holiday road toll had stood at zero for the period.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand