Help is on hand for New Zealand tourism operators to sell directly to New Zealanders with a locals’ version of Tourism New Zealand’s (TNZ) website to be launched.

Across New Zealand, till now, there has been no comprehensive facility for operators to showcase their products purely to New Zealanders, and with international border travel restrictions in place, the need for a trustworthy marketplace for domestic travellers to see what’s on offer was considered essential.

But now New Zealand’s tourism operators are set to get help to sell their accommodation, activities and experiences directly to New Zealanders with the rollout next month of TNZ’s domestic version of its government-funded web marketplace.

As part of the government’s COVID-19 recent response to the economic recovery, particularly in the areas of tourism and hospitality, TNZ was mandated to include greater access to local domestic customers in its business plan.

While regional promotional offices and other independently owned commercial websites generally provide regional information and showcase operators to the local regional audience, till now there has been no coordinated one-stop shop available where travellers can research and contact operators directly.

TNZ’s existing web presence newzealand.com, is a one-stop shop but it has traditionally been a global marketplace for New Zealand businesses to showcase their products to international customers.

“But stats tell us it also reaches a significant New Zealand audience. Over two million unique visitors to the site come from in New Zealand. This is a mix of Kiwis and international visitors using the site while they are in New Zealand,” a TNZ spokesperson said.  

As a result, a new edition will be added to newzealand.com, “it will be the same site, just a domestic version added”.

Consumers will access, as they do now, via Newzealand.com. Tourism Businesses will continue to be able to update their information through the Tourism Business Database and they will have the ability to create deals specific to the New Zealand market.

The TNZ site is free to list on and has always been available to New Zealand operators and this won’t change to access the new local-focused facility.

The new edition will be live in June and once launched, further specific content will be added aimed at the domestic audience.

To register a business on either of the TNZ versions of the website, visit https://register.newzealand.com/