{"id":202050,"date":"2025-12-26T01:44:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T01:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/202050\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T01:44:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T01:44:07","slug":"cost-of-living-and-high-airfares-the-case-for-nz-travel-subsidies-editorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/202050\/","title":{"rendered":"Cost of living and high airfares: The case for NZ travel subsidies \u2013 Editorial"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is time we changed tack and provided New Zealanders with direct financial incentives to become backyard travellers.<\/p>\n

Affordability has been singled out in recent years as the top obstacle for domestic tourism. The cost of holidays, especially airfares, were outed as deterrents.<\/p>\n

Airfares don\u2019t appear to be getting cheaper as a lack of market competition lives on. In fact, Airports Council International (ACI) claimed New Zealand\u2019s domestic airfares have shot up 63% in six years, faster than any other country<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The high costs of daily life mean households are clamping down on holiday spending and instead prioritising other financial commitments. <\/p>\n

We know backyard travellers will show up with their suitcases in hand if given a nudge. <\/p>\n

When the Covid pandemic<\/a> closed the country\u2019s borders in 2020, Tourism NZ shifted its gaze from international visitors to domestic tourism. <\/p>\n

In May 2020, Tourism NZ launched the <\/a>, campaign to encourage Kiwis to explore the country and support local tourism businesses.<\/p>\n

And 63% of New Zealanders responded to the call by trying a new activity or visiting a new destination. <\/p>\n

The call to action was lauded for generating an additional $1.1 billion in domestic tourism spending. <\/p>\n

That success was all without any actual direct financial incentives. Imagine what we could achieve if vouchers or travel subsidies were on offer.<\/p>\n

Canada appears to be leading by example. It offers a Canada Strong Pass that provides free access to national parks, historic sites and museums, as well as discounts on camping, free youth rail travel and reduced fares for 18- to 24-year-olds between December 12 and January 15.<\/p>\n

The pass was about making exploring the country easier for everyone, especially youth and families.<\/p>\n

Canada is actively reducing cost barriers for locals, while New Zealand depends on awareness campaigns and people having the money to travel in the first place.<\/p>\n

Back in New Zealand, we are grateful to the tourist attractions making their own moves to draw in local visitors. Te\u202fPapa charges international visitors $35 per adult while New Zealand residents enter for free. On most of the Department of Conservation\u2019s Great Walks, international visitors pay significantly more for huts and campsites than Kiwis. <\/p>\n

While it is fair to argue that international tourists spend far more per trip than locals – which supports jobs and regional economies in ways domestic travel would struggle to match – couldn\u2019t we at least try? <\/p>\n

Times are changing, uncertainties beyond our control exist, and, like real intrepid travellers, let\u2019s dip our toes into something new.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is time we changed tack and provided New Zealanders with direct financial incentives to become backyard travellers.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1443,14740,95,123832,1121,4187,13997,8815,2082,27298,8455,2959,2956,809,4188,3556,111,43,139,69,1118,6926,5076,14625,223,274,73426,102],"class_list":["post-202050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-about","tag-airfares","tag-and","tag-banging","tag-case","tag-cost","tag-editorial","tag-explore","tag-for","tag-gems","tag-getting","tag-high","tag-holidays","tag-keep","tag-living","tag-national","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-season","tag-subsidies","tag-summer","tag-the","tag-travel","tag-upon","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202050","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=202050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}