Northland gets boost for international tourism

Promoting Te Tai Tokerau Northland to international tourists got a boost this week when the Minister for Tourism and Hospitality, Louise Upston, announced that three collaborative regional campaigns involving Northland NZ have been approved for funding.

Allocations of funding in the third round of the Regional Tourism Boost favoured initiatives focused on attracting international visitors to regions and supporting tourism growth. The six initiatives selected all involved collaboration between multiple regions. You can read about all six initiatives here.

The Northland Region was included in three of the selected initiatives, with funding totalling $2.77 million which will be used to market the collaborating regions.

Northland NZ will support lead regional tourism organisations in the following campaigns which target the key tourism markets of Australia, the USA and China.

• $994,902 to Kiwi North food and hospitality campaign which aims to attract more Chinese visitors, led by RotoruaNZ in collaboration with Kiwi North (a group of North Island regional tourism organisations, including Northland NZ).
• $975,490 to a national campaign encouraging visitors from the United States and Canada to explore destinations across New Zealand, led by Tātaki Auckland Unlimited.
• $794,902 to attract Australian and US visitors to explore up to eight new food trails in New Zealand, co-led by Destination Great Lake Taupo and RotoruaNZ in collaboration with ten North and South Island regional tourism organisations, including Northland NZ.

Collaboration was a recipe for success for Northland NZ, especially with the food trails campaign where it was a foundational partner, backing the concept from the outset. The campaigns will roll out this spring and drive visitation through to summer and beyond.

The number of international guest nights in Te Tai Tokerau has been increasing year-on-year reaching 380,000 in the year ending June 2026. Spending by international tourists in Northland has followed a similar pattern of growth, reaching a spend total of $223 million for the year ending June 2026.

To target our domestic tourism market, Northland NZ launched its Spring Starts Here campaign this week, which is designed to drive visitation over the school holidays, Labour Weekend in October, and into summer.