New tourism funding good for Coromandel - MP

A significant boost in tourism funding to attract more high value international visitors to New Zealand is great news for the Coromandel says local National MP Scott Simpson.

$158 million will be allocated in next week’s budget to develop new markets and encourage high spending visitors.

“This will open up some significant new target markets for the Coromandel tourism sector and I would encourage local operators, with the support of Destination Coromandel, to take advantage of the opportunities on offer,” Mr Simpson said.

$24.5 million will be spent boosting traditional markets like Australia, the UK and USA. Another $44.5 million will be used to attract visitors from places such as India, Indonesia and Latin America.

“These places have growing wealth, relative proximity to New Zealand, and increasing numbers of people who want to travel. Along with China, which is already our second-biggest tourist market, we can expect to see high growth in the number of tourists coming from these countries. We are also focusing on visitors who spend more while they are here. This includes $20 million to target luxury travellers, and $34 million to attract business events.”

The rest of the new funding will go towards investment in the tourism sector, and improved visa facilitation to make it easier for people to come here.

“As one of the country’s premier holiday destinations I would like to see everything possible being done to make sure Coromandel is high on the radar of these valuable new visitors,” Mr Simpson said.

ENDS

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