Govt announces $30m spend on conservation to aid tourism industry
Monday, 17 February 2025
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says the Government will spend $30 million on conservation projects, in an effort to further boost tourism.
But the spending boost, which comes out of the international visitor levy so must be spent on tourism and conservation, comes less than a year after the Department of Conservation’s funding was slashed. It has immediately been criticised by the Opposition.
A day after unveiling a $500,000 marketing campaign urging Australians to “get the bloody hell over here”, Luxon and Conservation Minister Tama Potaka announced the spending of levy money across national parks, tourism infrastructure, and pest control.
“New Zealand’s breathtaking beauty is sought-after by our visitors from all over the world, and we must protect the integrity of that experience,” Luxon said.
Of the spending, $11m would go towards huts, car parks and other facilities, at Aoraki Mt Cook, Rangitoto Island and Motutapu Island. There would be safety upgrades to 116 cable structures, such as swing bridges. And there would be improved infrastructure at the Goat Island marine reserve.
The remaining $19m would be spent on biodiversity initiatives, including culling of pest wallabies, deer, and goats, the targeting of predators to protect the Southern Dotterel birds of Rakiura National park, and the removal of wilding pines from “iconic landscapes”.
The Government had already cut the Department of Conservation’s budget by $33m annually in the 2024 Budget.
'It's just about saying that any organisation is not in a perfect state, and so if you have a set of money going into an organisation, it's quite right to say, 'is that the best way to deliver that outcome?' In this case, eradication of wallabies. Of all the choices that we had available, that program could be, those funds could be re-prioritised, in a much better and smarter way. The ongoing work around pest eradication continues,“ Luxon said.
“As we use some of this money to power up tourism right now, we're saying 'Right-oh we can have targeted marketing campaigns into the Australians’, last week, we can augment that with actually making sure the DoC estate's, in terms of biodiversity, but also in terms of hard infrastructure, is getting some investment as well in places where we want better quality huts, we need better car parks, we need better support … it will continue.”
Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins said spending on tourism infrastructure was always welcome, and was occurring under the prior Government.
“What they're announcing today really is plugging the gap, or some of the gap that they themselves created. You've got volunteers maintaining huts and tracks and so on at the moment because the Government cut the funding for those things.”
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said it was “frankly embarrassing, given the deep cuts made to conservation last year”.
“This new funding is a mere drop in the bucket compared to what the Government’s own officials have told it is required for conservation - it also does very little to make up for the huge shortfalls the Department of Conservation is facing.”
On Sunday, Luxon unveiled the details of a month-long marketing campaign to attract Australian tourists, carrying the tagline, “Everyone must go! Even You. Don’t miss out”.
It has been derided by Labour Party tourism spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel, who said it “sounds like a clearance sale”.
Luxon said he hoped the campaign would boost Australian tourist numbers by 5%.
Tourism has not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels, and Australian visitor numbers are sitting at about 88% of 2019 levels.
He said visiting New Zealand was on the bucket list of many Australians.
“Those Australians need to get over here and see this great country of ours before they die,” he said.