Wanaka councillor and Queenstown District Council deputy mayor Calum MacLeod is calling for a limit on inbound tourism.

“Last year New Zealand reached four million tourists. The maxim was summed up in one word by Saatchi & Saatchi [of] the ‘100% Pure NZ’ campaign: “More!”

“This is as unsustainable as it is unacceptable,” Calum said. “We have strived for value over volume for decades – and failed. Value must replace volume.”

Calum said scaling back from four million to three million visitors would have been impossible pre-Covid-19. While Saatchi & Saatchi wasn’t asked to speculate on a possible upper limit of tourists, the designer of the 100% Pure campaign recently stated it thought that limit could be when the number of visitors approached the number of New Zealanders, Calum said.

“Establishing and maintaining an upper limit is essential. Now is our best ever opportunity,“ he said.

Calum’s comments follow the release of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s latest report, ‘Not 100% but four steps closer to sustainable tourism’, which follows a report addressing the environmental and cultural impacts of tourism, released in December 2019.

Calum encouraged locals to read the latest report and submit their views.

The report urges the government to take advantage of the current pause in international tourism to transform the tourism sector into one with a substantially smaller environmental footprint in order to address the long-standing environmental and social issues within the industry.

The report makes several proposals to address the challenges: they include a departure tax that reflects the environmental cost of flying; and making central government funding for tourism infrastructure conditional on environmental criteria, which is aligned with the community’s vision for tourism development.

It also proposes clarifying and strengthening the Department of Conservation tools to address the loss of wildness and natural quiet, and tightening rules around commercial activity; and strengthening the existing standard for self-contained freedom camping, improving oversight of the certifying process and requiring rental car agencies to collect infringement fees and fines.

Calum MacLeod PHOTO: Supplied

“We must push for the government to adopt all of these recommendations,” Calum said.

“This is vital because climate change is our ‘Nuclear Free’ moment; departure taxes are commonplace in Europe; the adoption of a departure tax will enhance New Zealand’s credibility and standing; and it could become a vital lever to set an upper limit for inbound tourism.”

Calum says while tourism minister Stuart Nash is challenging the notion of a departure tax, the remaining three proposals are “no brainers” which he believes will be adopted. 

Calum said the tourism industry’s rejection of the departure tax “is based on an old lie - any increase in airfares will kill demand”, but added data estimates indicate demand is relatively unresponsive to changes in the price of airfares. 

He said the introduction of a departure tax would help to reduce aviation emissions by constraining visitor demand and, depending on how it was designed, by incentivising technological change.

“In addition, the tax would provide a source of revenue which could be directed towards mitigating aviation emissions and supporting wider climate adaptation efforts as well as a number of other potential benefits.

“New Zealand could and should take a leadership role in galvanising countries wishing to promote a higher level of ambition on international aviation emissions.”

The Covid-19 pandemic has shown us we can limit inbound tourism, he said in a letter to the Wanaka App.

“Firstly it is important to acknowledge there are a lot of our community doing it hard. We will get

through this. The question is - what happens after the borders reopen?” he asked.

International tourism will rebound, and while opinion varies on how fast that will happen the CEO of Emirates recently stated he expects to see 2019 levels back by 2024, Calum said.

Calum assumes New Zealand will remain a desirable destination, and remain reliant on long-haul aviation. And as international tourism returns, the government will turn to tourism income to “fill NZ’s Covid-19 depleted coffers”, he said.

He said while the economic recovery and the immediate needs of our community present a challenge, we must continue to take the threat of climate change into account; prioritise value over volume, and take a “holistic approach”.

“This cannot be simple economics,” Calum said.

Read more: Push for sustainable tourism gathers pace.