The tourism portfolio has proven difficult for a succession of ministers. What was flying around the middle of the last decade as a major earner and a mostly a feel-good sector for New Zealand was grounded by the pandemic and is now continues to only just splutter back to life. There’s been a rapid turnover of ministers in the past five years, overseeing what was at one stage New Zealand’s biggest foreign exchange earner.
In the weekend reshuffle, Louise Upston picked up Tourism and Hospitality, and the Government acknowledges the sector is critical industry for promoting growth and employment in regional New Zealand. She replaces Matt Doocey, who won support for devoting funding to improve data. But he was best known for driving through the trebling of the International Visitor Levy, an increase widely unpopular within the industry.
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