Forecast

The next five months will be “crunch time” for the tourism sector, says the economic forecaster.

The ministry’s New Zealand Tourism Forecasts for 2019 – 2025 put visitor arrival growth at 4% per annum to hit 5.1m visitors in 2025.

The bank’s chief economist expects only “muted growth” in the sector in the years ahead.

A strong global trend for more consumer dollars to be spent on tourism will help offset looming headwinds for the NZ sector, according to Westpac.