Latest / Best of Business / Megan Singleton: Bloggeratlarge writer on the international responses to the increased tourism levy

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Megan Singleton: Bloggeratlarge writer on the international responses to the increased tourism levy · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk ZEDB. Follow
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
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  Speaker 2: News Talk ZB And joining me right now is Meghan Singleton.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Good.
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  Speaker 3: Morning, Francesca.
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  Speaker 2: So there was a really interesting response this week to
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  Speaker 2: the tourist tax for international visitors, and especially a really
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  Speaker 2: interesting reaction from those within the industry, tourism industry.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and so I asked my friends over at New
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  Speaker 3: Zealand Travel Tips or MZTT. They run a Facebook page
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  Speaker 3: and they've got over one hundred and twenty thousand people
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  Speaker 3: on this Facebook page, most of which are internationals looking
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  Speaker 3: for tips on visiting New Zealand. Right, so I thought,
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  Speaker 3: let's see if we can run a poll asking those
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  Speaker 3: people who are looking to come to New Zealand what
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  Speaker 3: they think about this new levee. So just a bit
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  Speaker 3: of background, This new environmental fee is which is levied
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  Speaker 3: at the time that an international visitor buys the New
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  Speaker 3: Zealand visa. So it doesn't affect Australians or people from
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  Speaker 3: the Pacific or Kiwi's returning home. It affects everyone who
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  Speaker 3: comes from countries where they need to buy visa, and
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  Speaker 3: that has been thirty five dollars per person, and that
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  Speaker 3: is due to go up to one hundred dollars. So
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  Speaker 3: I wanted to know because I thought that's a shocker,
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  Speaker 3: and I didn't think we had the luxury, honestly in
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  Speaker 3: New Zealand, of making more barriers for tourism, because we're struggling,
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  Speaker 3: let's face it, on getting all our tourism back to
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  Speaker 3: our pre COVID levels. So they ran this pole for me.
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  Speaker 3: Over one thousand people responded and of those thousand, over
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  Speaker 3: five hundred will be potentially paying the fee. They are
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  Speaker 3: either planning to come to New Zealand or they've already booked.
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  Speaker 3: So here's the stats. A whopping eighty three percent said
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  Speaker 3: that fee will not stop them from visiting New Zealand,
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  Speaker 3: ten percent said it might affect them choosing New Zealand,
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  Speaker 3: and percent said it would. And so I was astounded
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  Speaker 3: by that. I mean, that's straight out of the horse's mouth, right,
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  Speaker 3: these are people who will be levied this fee. Go
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  Speaker 3: yep or good, we get it. We know that rate
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  Speaker 3: payers shouldn't have to pay for all the infrastructure that
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  Speaker 3: tourists get to enjoy. And did you know, by the way,
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  Speaker 3: that if a tourist has an accident, here, ACC will
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  Speaker 3: cover them. I don't think we knew that.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not just straight off? Is it as simple as that?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I need to look into that, because that there
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  Speaker 3: was a lot of conversation. So if you want to
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  Speaker 3: have a look on the Facebook page, it's called NZTT
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  Speaker 3: or New Zealand Travel Tips. Go there, look get amongst
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  Speaker 3: it because there are people asking questions all about New Zealand.
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  Speaker 3: Where shall I go? Where's the best place for this
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  Speaker 3: and that? And lots and lots of keywas are on
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  Speaker 3: there given great helpful advice. Even if you're just looking
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  Speaker 3: to go, you know, somewhere in New Zealand, you'll get
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  Speaker 3: some great answers. But that's where I saw this whole
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  Speaker 3: thread of discussion around the acc I need to look
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  Speaker 3: at No.
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  Speaker 2: Eighty five percent, it won't stop them. That is really
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  Speaker 2: good to hear, because you're right, that's what we didn't
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  Speaker 2: want to happen. We didn't want it to be putting
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  Speaker 2: off anybody else wanting to come to New Zealand. We
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  Speaker 2: want to get this tourism back up to speed. And yes,
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  Speaker 2: we've spoken about it for years about how we want
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  Speaker 2: a different kind of tourist. But and you know, I'm
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  Speaker 2: sure that those slightly more wealthier tourists that we're trying
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  Speaker 2: to appeal to it won't be a problem for them
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  Speaker 2: to pay. But also change our minds. Now you don't
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  Speaker 2: want it in people's minds. Oh, it's getting really expensive
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  Speaker 2: to go there?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I think we pay it everywhere else, don't we.
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  Speaker 3: We pay for visas here there and everywhere we pay
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  Speaker 3: to go into a national park in America. You know,
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  Speaker 3: you don't have to hear. So I think those people
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  Speaker 3: get that and so and that's all included, so I guess.
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  Speaker 3: And also, what's fifty dollars New Zealand's about sixty US
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  Speaker 3: on the whole scheme of things. That's nothing, isn't it
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  Speaker 3: for a tourist who might be here for two three
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  Speaker 3: weeks a month?
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much?
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  Speaker 3: Fascinating?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah no, and thank you Megan for organizing that little
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  Speaker 2: survey there, and to New Zealand Travel Tips facebook page
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  Speaker 2: for doing that for us very much. Appreciate it. That's
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  Speaker 2: really interesting. Actually, I don't know. I think it is
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  Speaker 2: slightly higher than I thought it would be. Congratulations to
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  Speaker 2: Kate Travis. You are now the winner of the Anika
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  Speaker 2: Mob Book, so we will make sure we get that
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  Speaker 2: out to you. I'm sure that you and your family
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  Speaker 2: are going to love it.
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