Grant Webster: Tourism Holdings CEO on tourist spending returning to pre-pandemic levels

Early Edition with Ryan Bridge · Feb 26, 2025 · 3m · transcript

A return to form for international tourist spending.

Data shows it was up 60% to nearly $17 billion in the year to March 2024, just under pre-pandemic levels.

Total industry expenditure crossed $44 billion – a near 15% rise on the year prior.

Tourism Holdings Chief Executive Grant Webster told Andrew Dickens it was bound to happen.

He says it's in people's DNA globally to want to explore, and New Zealand's an attractive destination, so they're coming.

However, there are questions over whether our infrastructure is up to a tourism boom.

Queenstown officials believe New Zealand's shift from…