Growth of Tourism in New Zealand

The scenic attractions of New Zealand are unrivaled for so small an area, and there are excellent opportunities for sightseeing as well as for sports, including trout fishing, big-game fishing, and hunting, mountaineering, and skiing. The state Tourist and Publicity Department initially promoted New Zealand overseas and stimulated hotel and motel building and other tourist services. With governmental restructuring, the national Tourism Board continues overseas promotion, the Tourist Industry Federation coordinates services at home, and state hotels were transferred to private enterprise. Overseas visitors, who numbered about 150,000 annually in the mid-1960s, increased to nearly 1,000,000 by the early 1990s.