New travel tax for New Zealand visitors to cover border security

A hotly debated travel tax will be levied on all air and cruise passengers travelling into New Zealand, to cover the increased cost of biosecurity assessments at its ports.

The tax will add $21.57 to the price of a round trip air fare and $26.22 for a cruise ship passenger. It will be introduced from 1 January 2016. The travel industry believes the additional costs will dampen New Zealand’s tourism industry growth and that border services are a public good that should be covered by general taxation. However the government says it is fairer for the costs of border security to fall on passengers travelling internationally. Read more: nzherald.co.nz