The Finance Minister is determined to get tourism figures back up to their pre-pandemic levels - and she hopes the newest batch of visa changes will speed that along.
From today, visitors can work remotely for overseas companies while holidaying in New Zealand for up to nine months, but they may need to declare themselves New Zealand tax residents if they stay for over 90 days.
Nicola Willis says there's capacity for growth officials will be tracking the number of visitor visas that come out of this change.
"We think it will make an impact on economic growth, because every tourist that comes to New Zealand benefits our bottom line. That's what supports people who are working for tourism providers, who are working for accommodation providers, restaurants, cafes - the more people they have coming through their doors and spending, the better."
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So right now it's time to say for a regular catch up. Good evening to Nicolai was finance mins. Hello, Hello, So this afternoon you announced the tourists for free to work remotely. They call them you know what do they call them? They call them digital nomad.
Digital nomads, that's right, people who are wanting a bit of a workation and they can do.
It for up to ninety days in New Zealand. How big is this market?
Well, around the world there are several countries who have actively said, look, you can come and visit our country and keep working remotely while you're here, And apparently it's a very large market already today, I've had people tell me that their contacts in the US, particularly those in LA have said, look, that could be really interesting for me. Because I'm rebuilding my home and having somewhere to base myself that's also beautiful and wonderful, and where I can keep working in my digital business is very attractive indeed. And for us Andrew, that means more money going through the toils of our accommodation providers and all of that good stuff, and more GST for the government books as well.
I've got a kid, I've got kid I used to coach soccer who's currently digitally nomadding it's himself somewhere in Asia, but he's working for a Wellington company. But the question I ask you is how big is the market? Like? How many people are we talking here?
Well, we are yet to see that. Officials find it very difficult to estimate how many more visitor visas we will get out of this. What we know is that right now we're still fifteen percent below the tourism levels we were in twenty nineteen, So we know we've got big capacity for growth and we'll be tracking those numbers very closely. What I can anticipate happening is that one you'll get a new group of visitors who might not otherwise have contemplated coming here. He'll be comfortable, they can keep in touch with their job. The other thing will get I think, is people staying longer, because you'll have that person who comes over for a couple of weeks, falls in love with the place, or falls in love with the Kiwi and then says, well, I want to extend my stay. How can I do that while staying in touch with my workface And the answer is you can. The visa allows you to do it, Please stay for a bit longer, spend more money in New Zealand.
Agreed. I understand the concept that again it's about just how many people are out there, whether it's actually going to make an impact on our economic growth.
Well, we think it will make an impact on economic growth because every tourist that comes to New Zealand benefits our bottom line. That's what supports people who are working for tourism providers, who are working accommodation providers, restaurants, cafes. The more people they have coming through their doors and spending, the better that is for our economy as a whole. It means more jobs can be supported, it means more money can go into the tills of our local community, and it's positive on the short term and in the long term. Andrew, these are smart people. These are people with really great skills. Otherwise their employers wouldn't let them work on the other side of the world. And we want connections.
So have you capt it ninety days so it stays in line with the ninety days with it we have in our employment laws, so people can actually figure out whether they're worth it to stay here or not.
Well, we've actually said this can be for up to nine months, and the cases of many people, they will extend it for that long. And that's just simply a reflection of our current visitor visa settings, which allow people to visit New Zealand for up to nine months on a tourism visa, and we're saying if you're on that kind of visa, you're allowed to work remotely for it for as long as you like within that nine month period.
Now, Bernard Hiccky this morning said that your economic growth plan relies on tourists flooding into the country, but you don't want to invest in tourism infrastructure and housing.
So is that a fair criticism, Well, I think he's mischaracterizing our growth plan. It's not just about tourism. We're also looking at what we can do across the economy to facilitate stract legislation, driving productivity through other means.
He said, your short term economic growth.
Well, look, we do need some quick ones. The economy is suffering right now in too many New Zealanders and businesses the consequences of that, and as we look to the future, yes, we will have to invest, together with communities in more infrastructure We're a government with a big transport infrastructure plan, big investment plans down the pipe. But as I said, right now, we're still fifteen percent below the levels of tourism we were achieving five years ago. So we know this capacity for more growth and it's up to us to make it easier for people to come here. Now.
Treasury has been reviewing the government assets. People are calling you to do that asset recycling. Are you going to be making a decision on that? And can I also say the jungle drums are beating saying you might sell QV.
Well, look, I want to see New Zealand manage its existing assets a lot better. So I've been working with Treasury looking at all of the assets we own. That's everything from QV through to dozens of farms owned by Land Corp. Many assets, and I've been asking Treasury to tell me one are they being managed well to the greatest benefit for New Zealanders And two is there a good purpose for us owning them? And what can we do to make sure we get more value out of that investment in the future. So that's advice that the Cabinet is yet to consider. But as we look to the future, we've got to make the most of our assets. We've got to invest wisely because we know for a fact we need more hospitals, we need more schools, we need more roads, we need more public transport infrastructure. So that's where our priority lies. And making sure our dollars are going where our priorities are well.
We're all itching to hear. We want to know when well.
Look, the Prime Minister has been clear that we're not planning on selling any of our major state assets this term. But what I intend to set out for the New Zealand people is a much clearer picture of the broad range of assets that the government currently owns and I think New Zealanders would be surprised at some of the things that we own. And then we need to go to the question of do we think that that's the best way for that money, which is ultimately tax pers money to be used, and are there better options? The bottom line for me, as we have to be able to deliver at least has got to serve us preferably better and deliver real value for the text pay not just in the short term but the long term too.
Nicola willis for the Minister, I thank you so much for your time.
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