New Zealand Tourism

New Zealand is located in the southern Pacific Ocean and comprises two main islands (the North and South Islands) and many smaller islands. The combined total land area is about the same as the British Isles or Japan. It has a population of just over 4 million, and an economy heavily dependent on overseas trade. It is a member of numerous international bodies, and, of particular interest in the context of this essay, chaired the United Nations committee responsible for drafting the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=259). For this and other reasons, New Zealand was presented with the Franklin Delano Roosevelt International Disability Award for making 'noteworthy progress towards the full participation of citizens with disabilities as called for in the Convention' (UN News Centre, 2008).

Tourists were coming to New Zealand as early as the 1850s (Collier, 2003). In 1901, New Zealand became the first country in the world to have a national ministry for tourism, and first recorded the number of people visiting (8050) in 1922. Currently (2008–2010), about 2.5 million tourists visit New Zealand each year. This represents about 0.26% of all world tourism, and 1.33% of Asia Pacific arrivals (Coventry, 2008).

While these proportions are small on a world scale, tourism is New Zealand's number one export earner. For the year ended March 2010, tourism expenditure contributed 18.2% to total New Zealand exports, generated 5.1% of gross domestic product, and directly employed 9.6% of the workforce (Ministry of Economic Development, 2010). The very size and importance of the industry to New Zealand means that any downturn in tourism will have an adverse effect on the entire economy.

One problem for New Zealand in international tourism is its geographical location. The country is a long way from its tourist markets, the largest and closest of which is Australia, at a distance of 2250 km (1400 miles).