Peter Jackson LOTR trilogy<\/a>? We subsidised it $150m. The return? An estimated $620m in tourism revenue between 2001 and 2021. <\/p>\nIn April 2025, Tourism New Zealand spent $13.5m on an Australia campaign. Earlier, it dropped $500,000 on the \u201cEveryone Must Go\u201d slogan that got mocked mercilessly but apparently worked. <\/p>\n
This Michelin investment represents less than 2% of Tourism New Zealand\u2019s $130m annual budget. <\/p>\n
If we can spend $160m helping Amazon film hobbits, we can spend $6m helping our outstanding food experiences become top of the must-do list with elite food travellers. <\/p>\n
![\"Adelaide]()
Adelaide Central Market. Photo \/ South Australian Tourism Commission<\/p>\n
The Australia comparison that makes us look smart <\/p>\n
\u201cAustralia declined Michelin, so we should have too!\u201d <\/p>\n
Let\u2019s examine this brilliant logic (insert eyeroll). <\/p>\n
Australia was quoted $40m over five years. We\u2019re paying $6.3m over three. Australia has 26 million people. We have five million. Australia already has World\u2019s 50 Best representation, established fine dining tourism infrastructure, and multiple domestic food guides with genuine international reach. <\/p>\n
We are not Australia. Different scale, different food media landscape, different value proposition. Australia is more than 15 years deep into a highly effective food and drink tourism strategy – hello South Australia, hello Melbourne? You know the reputation of those destinations and there\u2019s a reason. Australia has already been spreading the food and drink word \u2014 New Zealand needs Michelin to help us get the job started. Because every critic of the Michelin package has already been outspoken that we don\u2019t do enough to spread the good word. <\/p>\n
If anything, we negotiated Michelin at a bargain price while Australia\u2019s Tourism board looked at their quote and thought, \u201cprobably not worth it at that cost\u201d. <\/p>\n
We got in cheaper. That\u2019s not us being stupid. That\u2019s strategic. <\/p>\n
![\"Rene]()
Rene de Monchy, Tourism New Zealand chief executive. Photo \/ Dean Purcell <\/p>\n
Understanding tourism math <\/p>\n
\u201cOnly 36,000 extra visitors? That\u2019s $175 per visitor!\u201d <\/p>\n
This reveals a spectacular misunderstanding of how tourism economics work – which, having spent years in tourism marketing strategy, I find both amusing and depressing. <\/p>\n
Those 36,000 visitors don\u2019t materialise at Auckland Airport and immediately vanish. They stay in hotels (multiple nights). They eat at restaurants (multiple meals). They drink wine (hopefully lots). They visit regions. They shop. They return. In fact, all of Tourism New Zealand\u2019s other projects support stay longer and do more. So like compounding interest, no one comes this far to go to a single city. And you can\u2019t help but travel through the regions as you get to our other must-do experiences. Stay longer: spend more. <\/p>\n
Tourism New Zealand\u2019s own research – including datasets I worked on – shows 87% of people actively considering New Zealand cite \u201ctrying local cuisine\u201d as their number one interest. <\/p>\n
Once visitors are here, they MUST spend on food and drink. That\u2019s not optional tourist behaviour – that\u2019s survival meeting destination experience. <\/p>\n
More critically, Michelin creates what economists call a \u201cquality signal\u201d. It\u2019s not just about the tiny percentage who specifically hunt Michelin stars. It\u2019s about positioning New Zealand as a serious culinary destination in the minds of millions who\u2019ll never eat at a starred restaurant but whose decision-making is influenced by that reputation. <\/p>\n
The ripple effect compounds. That\u2019s not $175 per visitor. That\u2019s $175 into an economic multiplier that flows through accommodation, transport, retail, regional tourism, and repeat visitation. <\/p>\n
![\"The\u00a0Michelin\u00a0guide]()
The\u00a0Michelin\u00a0guide is doing its first NZ guide.<\/p>\n
The real opportunity hidden in the noise (and why it scares people) <\/p>\n
Now we get to the genuinely exciting bit that everyone\u2019s missing while they\u2019re screaming about budget lines. <\/p>\n
Michelin\u2019s arrival forces New Zealand to confront something uncomfortable: our food criticism isn\u2019t anonymous, isn\u2019t formally trained to a unifying standard, and operates with zero degrees of separation. <\/p>\n
Michelin is the opposite. Anonymous inspectors with rigorous training, consistent methodology, and standards calibrated across 40 countries. Restaurants can\u2019t prepare. Can\u2019t butter up the critic. Can\u2019t offer the special table or the off-menu tasting. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s terrifying if you\u2019re used to the cosy intimacy of New Zealand\u2019s small dining scene. But it\u2019s also exactly what professional food criticism looks like. A constructive partnership between the critic and the kitchen. <\/p>\n
The solution isn\u2019t to claim \u201cno one else can understand our food\u201d because they\u2019re uncomfortable. Too late, the assessors have already been here. It\u2019s to level up our own discourse while Michelin does its job. To professionalise food writing. To develop formal training. To build genuine critical infrastructure. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s the opportunity. And it\u2019s worth far more than $6.3m. <\/p>\n
![\"Chef]()
Chef Casey McDonald, from Craggy Range in Hawke’s Bay.<\/p>\n
Only four cities? That\u2019s actually strategic <\/p>\n
Regional exclusion complaints are predictable. Craggy Range in Hawke\u2019s Bay – one of only six restaurants with three hats – isn\u2019t eligible because it falls outside Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Queenstown. <\/p>\n
Frustrating for it? Absolutely. Fatal to the programme? No. <\/p>\n
Michelin is making a targeted bet on New Zealand\u2019s primary tourist centres. If the inaugural guide succeeds, expansion becomes possible. If TNZ had tried to cover the whole country in year one, $6.3m would be spread too thin to make meaningful impact anywhere. <\/p>\n
Better to do four cities brilliantly than 10 cities badly. <\/p>\n
And let\u2019s be pragmatic: regional restaurants have been building international reputations without Michelin for years. Craggy Range doesn\u2019t need a star to be excellent. But four major cities landing decisively on the global culinary map? That raises the profile of every food and wine region in New Zealand. <\/p>\n
A rising tide lifts all boats. Even the boats not directly in the harbour. <\/p>\n
What we actually need (and won\u2019t get from Michelin) <\/p>\n
Let me be crystal clear: Michelin won\u2019t solve our problems. <\/p>\n
Not every restaurant will get a star. Most won\u2019t be reviewed. Some cities won\u2019t be covered. Excellent chefs will be overlooked. The guide will make mistakes. It will probably misread New Zealand\u2019s casual dining culture. It will take years to calibrate properly. <\/p>\n
All true. None of it changes what matters. <\/p>\n
What we actually need – what this entire hysterical debate proves we desperately need – is someone whose job it is to think about food holistically. To connect: <\/p>\n
How we grow food \u2192 how we eat food \u2192 how we export food How we train chefs \u2192 how we review restaurants \u2192 how we promote culinary tourism How we support food security \u2192 how we celebrate food culture \u2192 how we build food literacy How we develop hospitality careers \u2192 how we retain talent \u2192 how we professionalise the industry <\/p>\n
That\u2019s a food strategy. A proper one. With budget, mandate, and accountability. <\/p>\n
We don\u2019t have it. We\u2019ve never had it. And we\u2019re not getting it anytime soon while our loudest voices are distracted by the wrong debate. <\/p>\n
So when Michelin arrives – a narrow, specific, tourism-focused initiative doing exactly what it\u2019s designed to do – everyone projects their wish list onto it and screams when it can\u2019t deliver everything from social services to domestic media support to mental health care. <\/p>\n
![\"Marisa]()
Marisa Bidois, CEO of the Restaurant Association.<\/p>\n
The real scandal <\/p>\n
As Restaurant Association chief executive Marisa Bidois said: \u201cThis is an incredible moment for our sector, and one that will inspire many operators to continue lifting the bar for hospitality in New Zealand.\u201d <\/p>\n
That\u2019s it. That\u2019s the entire point. Not perfection. Not salvation. Inspiration and aspiration within a very specific mandate. <\/p>\n
If Michelin\u2019s arrival forces a national conversation about how we value, discuss, and systematically support food culture – from paddock to plate to criticism to tourism – then $6.3m will prove to be the bargain of the decade. <\/p>\n
The critics are right that we have problems. They\u2019re just wrong about which ones matter. <\/p>\n
The real scandal isn\u2019t that Tourism New Zealand spent $6m on Michelin. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s that we\u2019re a country of five million people with world-class produce, talented chefs, and passionate food lovers – and we still don\u2019t have anyone whose job it is to connect all the dots. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s the gap Michelin exposed. And no amount of screaming about budget lines will fill it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s that we\u2019re showcasing our disconnected, binary understanding of food and tourism, two of our biggest exports and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8172,95181,3054,4101,564,228,15557,22122,10055,68636,5511,1362,95180,54677,95183,9812,111,43,139,69,16348,2437,418,95182,656,95179,2963],"class_list":["post-140077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-backlash","tag-cosy","tag-criticism","tag-debate","tag-food","tag-guide","tag-hospitality","tag-ignore","tag-ignored","tag-impossible","tag-just","tag-made","tag-mcgill","tag-michelin","tag-misdirected","tag-needs","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-outrage","tag-security","tag-shows","tag-siloed","tag-strategy","tag-tash","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}