Photo: RNZ
The government's move to loosen visitor visa rules has already piqued overseas interest from some Americans who've lost their homes in the LA fires.
From this week, 'digital nomads' - like IT specialists and social media influencers - can apply for a visitor visa to live and work onshore for nine months.
National campaigned on the change ahead of the last election and is now hoping it will boost visitor numbers and interest from overseas businesses.
"The government's ambition is that new visa rules will put New Zealand boldly on the map as a welcoming haven for the world's talent and we hope that in some cases, it will encourage those people and the firms they represent to consider doing more business with New Zealand in future," Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis said.
Immigration New Zealand is launching an advertising campaign to spread the word, allocating roughly $100,000 to target the US and South East Asia markets.
APEC business advisory council member Brett O'Reilly told RNZ he had already been contacted by half a dozen people, including Americans affected by the LA fires.
"The feedback is very positive in that a lot of people around the world would love the opportunity to come and visit and work in New Zealand.
"And for those people impacted by the recent fires in Los Angeles this is a godsend and giving them an opportunity to relocate somewhere temporarily while their houses and lives are being rebuilt."
Some of those affected by the fires in California earlier this month might see the visa change as a godsend, APEC business advisory council member Brett O'Reilly says. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / Eric Thayer
New Zealand joins dozens of other countries - including Portugal, Spain, Germany, Thailand and Indonesia - that host digital nomads.
O'Reilly said it had taken too long for Aotearoa to get to this point but it was better late than never and he believed it would boost visitor numbers.
"I think a lot of people in the tech sector have a mixture of working hard in front of the computer but then want to engage in adventure activities afterwards.
"New Zealand's no better place [for] that. There are already a lot of people that come to places like Queenstown and Auckland and want to engage in that sort of activity. Now they can, and they can stay a lot longer."
General manager of FCM Travel in New Zealand Kelly Thomas said there was increasing demand for digital nomad schemes from employees who wanted to blend business and leisure.
"Gone are the days of a traveller being comfortable doing multiple single day, overnight or really short trips throughout a month.
"They actually want to go into a country and add on a little bit of leisure travel while they're there to make the most of that travel."
Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said the government would push on with an advertising campaign. Photo: RNZ / Reece Baker
The visa change is part of the government's broader goal of boosting visitor numbers that have slumped in recent years as the country continues to lose residents in record numbers.
That push to get the numbers back up has some hotspots - like Queenstown - worried about the strain on already-stressed infrastructure.
Tourism Minister Louise Upston was asked about consultation with affected regions on Monday and said if things got to a crunch point it would be a good problem to have.
"The reality is most parts of New Zealand recognise that while we're not at the 2019 levels, we want more visitors, their businesses want more customers.
"If we get to a situation quickly, which would actually be a great problem to have, then absolutely we need to look at that more carefully."
For now, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said the government would push on with an advertising campaign.
"Immigration New Zealand are going to be targeting South East Asia and America in the first instance, and I think our budget is around $100,000.
"So we'll test the water and see how that goes and then potentially break out into new markets with more spend later, depending on what the Minister of Finance does in the next Budget."
The government said it was hard to know how many digital nomads might take up visitor visas but similar schemes had proven very popular overseas.
Immigration New Zealand wasn't able to provide the number of applications it had received - if any - as of close of business on Monday.
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