More tourists are coming to NZ in winter. Tourism NZ has been trying to encourage more tourists to come here throughout the year instead of just during the summer. February is the busiest month for tourists but the figures for June this year show a 20% increase over June 2015. The figures include domestic tourists and the warm weather we had in the early part of the winter may have been one reason for the increase.
In total, there is a big increase in the numbers of international tourists and also an increase in how much they spend. More independent tourists from China are travelling on their own or with friends instead of with a tour. These independent travellers tend to stay longer and spend more. Social media has probably helped to spread the message that it’s possible to travel here with only limited English.
Tourism is bringing in close to $12 billion dollars annually, which makes it the biggest contributor to our economy, or the second biggest if the dairy industry is doing well. Although the NZ dollar is high, tourists are still interested in coming here. NZ is not a cheap destination.
Most tourists are attracted by our natural environment. The Great Walks are extremely popular, especially the Milford Track. Milford Sound, Queenstown, the glaciers and Rotorua are also popular. However, NZ has more to offer than the popular places. If tourists spend more time in NZ, they can enjoy more of our natural environment – the forest, mountains and beaches.
However, we need more hotels and motels, and more campgrounds. We need more parking spaces in popular places, and improved roads. These things cost money. If tourism keeps increasing, and it probably will, we also have to make sure that our natural environment is not in danger of being damaged by too many tourists.
For more about Tourism, type ‘tourism’ in the search box or listen to February 28 2016.
Vocabulary
• domestic – NZ tourists
• tend (v) tendency (n) – have an influence
• annually – every year
• contributor –something which supplies or adds to (our economy)
• destination – place where people go to
• glaciers – rivers of ice (note: we pronounce the ‘c’ as an ‘s’ not ‘sh’)