The number of working holiday visa applications approved fluctuated each year, but 2025 numbers were 50% lower than in 2016. <\/p>\n
If approved applications stuck to 2016 levels, Marriner said the system could gain \u201canother billion dollars\u201d.<\/p>\n
Data tracking credit card spending indicated that the average international traveller visited three to four regions, while a youth traveller visited seven to nine.<\/p>\n
Haydn Marriner, brand development manager at Bay of Plenty Tourism and chair of Backpacker Youth and Adventure Tourism Association (BYATA). Photo \/ Brydie Thompson<\/p>\n
\u201cYouth travellers are the biggest spenders. They stay longer and they visit more regions. They live in a community, so they spend back into it. Tourism <\/a>is a force for good.<\/p>\n \u201cThat kind of value is really felt in places like Tauranga and Mount Maunganui, where working holiday visa holders plug a vital gap in our hospitality and service sector. They\u2019re a fantastic mobile workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n Marriner said for hospitality businesses, working holiday visa holders were both their staff and customers.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they\u2019re up here in the North Island, they\u2019re likely to continue south to Te Puke for kiwifruit, then they migrate down to Hawke\u2019s Bay for wine, maybe olives in the Wairarapa. They could be working hospitality jobs over the winter in Wellington or Christchurch, or fruit picking in Central Otago.<\/p>\n \u201cThe beautiful part about it is they live in the communities they work in. They become part of that fabric.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re providing that reciprocal value down to places which other visitors might not go to, like Maket\u016b, Newdicks Beach, Pukehina, Whakat\u0101ne, and \u014cp\u014dtiki.\u201d<\/p>\n Sam MacKinnon, head of communications and advocacy at Hospitality New Zealand, said working holiday visa travellers were \u201cbehind the bar, in the kitchen, and serving in our caf\u00e9s, and they\u2019re also sitting at the tables as customers\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThey play a year-round role but are particularly vital over the busier summer season.\u201d<\/p>\n Working holiday visa travellers lived, worked, and travelled locally, spending what they earned while working in New Zealand, MacKinnon said.<\/p>\n \u201cRecent research indicates that each dollar spent by youth visitors generates $1.40 in regional economic activity.\u201d<\/p>\n Hospitality New Zealand and the Backpacker Youth and Adventure Tourism Association are campaigning for Tourism NZ to launch targeted marketing efforts into Australia and other key markets to increase working holiday visa numbers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know a number of working holiday visa travellers who have come here with the intention of staying for a year but have subsequently transitioned onto visa types that allow them to stay for longer,\u201d MacKinnon said.<\/p>\n Laure Gamelon, general manager of Wanderlust <\/a>and Pacific Coast Lodge and Backpackers, said the hostel was currently sponsoring three people for a work visa, after they came to New Zealand on a working holiday visa.<\/p>\n \u201cThey stay long term and spend even more money,\u201d Gamelon said. \u201cThey might stay here for the next 30 years of their life or more.\u201d<\/p>\n Laure Gamelon, general manager of Wanderlust and Pacific Coast Lodge and Backpackers. Photo \/ Brydie Thompson<\/p>\n