Latest / Best of Business / Nicola Willis: Finance Minister hopeful visa changes for digital nomads will help grow tourism numbers

Transcript

Nicola Willis: Finance Minister hopeful visa changes for digital nomads will help grow tourism numbers · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks be follow
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: But right now it's time to say for a regular
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: catch up. Good evening to Nicolai was finance mins. Hello, Hello,
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: So this afternoon you announced the tourists free to work remotely.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: They call them you know what they call them. They
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: call them digital nomad.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: Digital nomads, that's right, people who are wanting a bit
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: of a workation.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: And they can do it for up to ninety days
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: in New Zealand. How big is this market?
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Well, around the world there are several countries who have
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: actively said, look, you can come and visit our country
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: and keep working remotely while you're here. And apparently it's
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: a very large market. Already today, I've had people tell
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: me that their contacts in the US, particularly those in
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: LA have said, look, that could be really interesting for me.
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: Because I'm rebuilding my home and having somewhere to base
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: myself that's also beautiful and wonderful, and where I can
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: keep king in my digital business is very attractive indeed,
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: and for US Andrew, that means more money going through
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: the tools of our accommodation providers. And all of that
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: good stuff and more GST for the government books as well.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: I've got a kid, kid I used to coach soccer,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: who's currently digitally nomatting. It's himself somewhere in Asia, but
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: he's working for a Wellington company. But the question I
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: ask you is how big is the market? Like? How
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: many people are we talking here?
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: Well, we are yet to see that. Officials find it
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: very difficult to estimate how many more visitor visas we
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: will get out of this. What we know is that
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: right now we're still fifteen percent below the tourism levels
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: we were in twenty nineteen, So we know we've got
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: big capacity for growth and we'll be tracking those numbers
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: very closely. What I can anticipate happening is that one
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: you'll get a new group of visitors who might not
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: otherwise have contemplated coming here. He'll be comfortable, they can
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: keep in touch with their job. The other thing will
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: get I think, is people staying longer, because you'll have
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: that person who comes over for a couple of weeks,
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: falls in love with the place, or falls in love
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: with a kiwi and then says, well, I want to
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: extend my stay. How can I do that while staying
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: in touch with my workface And the answer is you can.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: The visa allows you to do it. Please stay for
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: a bit longer, spend more money in New Zealand.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Agreed. I understand the concept that again is about just
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: how many people are out there. Whether it's actually going
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: to make an impact on economic growth.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: Well, we think it will make an impact on economic
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: growth because every tourist that comes to New Zealand benefits
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: our bottom line. That's what supports people who are working
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: for tourism providers, who are working accommodation providers, restaurants, cafes.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: The more people they have coming through their doors and spending,
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: the better that is for our economy as a whole.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: It means more jobs can be supported, It means more
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: money can go into the tills of our local communities,
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: and it is positive on the short term and in
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: the long term. Andrew, these are smart people. These are
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: people with really great skills. Otherwise their employers wouldn't let
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: them work on the other side of the world. And
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: we want connections.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: So have you capt it ninety days so it stays
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: in line with the ninety days with it we have
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: in our employment laws so people can actually figure out
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: whether they're worth it to stay here or not.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: Well, we've actually said this can be for up to
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: nine months, and the cases of many people, they will
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: extend it for that long. And that's just simply a
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: reflection of our current visitor visa settings, which allow people
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: to visit New Zealand for up to nine months on
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: a tourism visa, and we're saying if you're on that
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: kind of visa, you're allowed to work remotely for it
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: for as long as you like within that nine month period.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Now, Bernard Hiccky this morning said that your economic growth
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: plan relies on tourist flooding into the country, but you
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: don't want to invest in tourism, infrastructure and housing. So
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: is that a fair criticism.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: Well, I think he's mischaracterizing our growth plan. It's not
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: just about tourism. We're also looking at what we can
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: do across the economy to facilitatestract legislation, driving productivity through
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: other means.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Said your short term economic.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: Growth, well, look, we do need some quick ones. The
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: economy is suffering right now and too many New Zealanders
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: and businesses are feeling the consequences of that and as
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: we look to the future, yes, we will have to
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: invest together with communities in more infrastructure. We're a government
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: with a big transport infrastructure plan, big investment plans down
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: the pipe. But as I said, right now, we're still
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: fifteen percent below the levels of tourism we were achieving
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: five years ago. So we know the capacity for more
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: growth and it's up to us to make it easier
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: for people to come here.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: Now. Treasury has been reviewing the government assets. People are
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: calling you to do that asset recycling. Are you going
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: to be making a decision on that? And can I
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: also say the jungle drums are beating saying you might
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: sell QV.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: Well, look, I want to see New Zealand manage its
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: existing assets a lot better. So I've been working with
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: Treasury looking at all of the assets we own. That's
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: everything from QV through to dozens of farms owned by
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: land Corp, any assets, and I've been asking Treasury to
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: tell me one are they being managed well to the
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: greatest benefit for New Zealanders And two is there a
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: good purpose for us owning them? And what can we
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: do to make sure we get more value out of
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: that investment in the future. So that's advice that the
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: Cabinet has yet to consider. But as we look to
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: the future, we've got to make the most of our assets.
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: We've got to invest wisely because we know for a
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: fact we need more hospitals, we need more schools, we
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: need more roads, we need more public transport infrastructure. So
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: that's where our priority lies, and making sure our dollars
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: are going where our priorities are.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Well, we're all itching to hear. We want to know when.
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: Well. Look, the Prime Minister has been clear that we're
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: not planning on selling any of our major state assets
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: this term. But what I intend to set out for
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: the New Zealand people is a much clearer picture of
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: the broad range of assets that the government currently owns,
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: and I think New Zealanders would be surprised at some
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: of the things that we own. And then we need
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: to go to the question of do we think that
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: that's the best way for that money, which is ultimately
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: tax pas money to be used, and are there better options?
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: The bottom line for me though, is we have to
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: be able to deliver at least has good a serve
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: us preferably better and deliver real value for the tax
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: pay not just in the short term, but the long
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: term too.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Nicola Willis for that. I thank you so much for
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: your time.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: For more from News Talks at b listen live on
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio.