Is New Zealand Really Overtouristed?

New Zealand welcomed 3.3 million visitors in 2024—but is it overtouristed?

Note: For respect to Aotearoa New Zealand’s Māori heritage, geographic names are presented first in Māori and English where applicable, then in English thereafter for readability.

During the final approach of my Air New Zealand flight to Ōtautahi Christchurch, we passed low over a parking lot where rows and rows of camper vans were parked. I had read that the vans were a popular way for tourists to see Aotearoa New Zealand, but I couldn’t help but wonder: “If we’re in the middle of the peak summer tourist season, why are they lined up in a parking lot and not out for rent?”

I’d read plenty about New Zealand looking to get out ahead of over-tourism, particularly before the pandemic. So, I thought a small ship cruise with Ponant and Smithsonian Journeys might be a good way to see the country without being too impactful on Kiwis’ everyday lives. I like the notion of small ship cruising because it doesn’t put as much strain on smaller ports like a bigger cruise ship does—smaller towns can feel inundated when a mega ship pulls up and drops off thousands of passengers.

I also liked that the programming would be hyper-focused on the destination—particularly in topics like conservation and natural sciences. Ponant is a French luxury small-ship cruise line that does some traditional cruising, and some expedition-style cruising, and on this particular itinerary, they’d struck an alliance with Smithsonian Journeys, the touring arm of the Smithsonian Institution. Ponant provides their very French onboard experience, and Smithsonian curates much of the onboard programming and shore excursions.

There were two PhD-level lecturers onboard, and during the trip, they gave a series of fascinating talks on conservation in New Zealand, Māori culture, astronomy, plate tectonics, and volcanoes. Guests could also sign up to dine with the experts during the voyage if they wanted to chat with them a bit further about any of the topics they’d been brought onboard to share.

Christchurch seemed like a charming, cool city to burn off a day’s worth of jetlag, but I ended up not leaving the funkily medieval-themed Doubletree by Hilton on the Park. Te Waipounamu South Island summers trend cool and crisp—particularly in the evenings, and it slightly reminded me of Alaskan summers. It felt like there was an influx of tourists, but they seemed to not overwhelm the city, which is sizable—over half a million inhabitants in the metro area.

Our expedition ship, Le Jacques Cartier is petite and easy to navigate. It’s also compact enough to fit into closer-in, smaller ship berths. In Ōtepoti Dunedin, we’re able to dock right in the city center instead of a further-out berth like the larger NCL cruise ship that’s in port at the same time. We rode minibusses on an emerald green hill ridge to a dock where we boarded a boat to pass from the inland waterways to the ocean at Taiaroa Head, where colonies of albatrosses and seals take refuge from the sea. The albatrosses (which seemed to have an endless variety of species) spend virtually their entire lives at sea in the Pacific between New Zealand and South America.

Birds aside, New Zealand welcomed an estimated 3.3 million international visitors in 2024, roughly half as many as the Hawaiian Island of O‘ahu (the State of Hawai‘i averages around ten million visitors annually), but nowhere on the voyage did it feel like we were inundated with other visitors.

In the popular Tamatea Dusky Sound and Piopiotahi Milford Sound, there was a refreshing lack of other ships, aside from the dayboats that operate from the small port at the foot of the inlet, and we luncheoned outside on the ship’s sun deck while anchored in Harrison Cove, taking in the snow-capped peaks of the surrounding mountains.

At Waitohi Picton, we boarded minibusses to explore the Te Tauihu-o-te-waka Marlborough wine region, which is known for Sauvignon Blanc—but you won’t find throngs at the tasting rooms here, either. We poked along through sleepy small towns and vineyards to the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre, There’s a collection of WWI military aircraft, most of which are owned by the film director Peter Jackson. Jackson also put together many of the displays in the museum, which are more like tableaus aimed at personal storytelling than a collection of labeled artifacts.

At Tauranga, a coastal city, we visited the Ōtamarākau Marae, which is an example of how New Zealand’s Māori are distinct from their cousins in other parts of Polynesia. In Tahiti, marae are abandoned ruins, but in New Zealand, they serve as community meeting houses for Māori tribes, and as visitors, we were put through the regular welcome protocol to visit the interior of the marae, which is built to evoke the embrace of the ancestors—the spine forming the roof of the house, the hands forming the frame. The interior walls are lined with photos of the departed ancestors.

1. Tauranga Thermal PoolsCourtesy of Studio Ponant/Doriane Letexier 2. Tauranga Ko Tapuika Maori

Even in Tamaki Makarau Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, it very rarely felt crowded. I joined the Māori Luxury Tour with Time Unlimited Tours, which tells the story of Auckland and the surrounding regions from a Māori perspective. The company is Māori-owned, and our guide was also Māori. She shared stories about the region’s flora and fauna, and how they were impacted by both Māori and European arrivals to the island.

Māori people are estimated to have first arrived in New Zealand from other parts of Polynesia in the late 13^th and 14^th centuries, making the islands the last major landmass on Earth to be settled by humans. The Māori language is mutually intelligible with some other Polynesian languages like Cook Islands Māori and Tahitian, but many cultural practices in New Zealand evolved with variations.

At the Arataki Visitors Centre, we admire the kauri pou, or carved post, that welcomes visitors, and our guide explains that the likenesses carved on them are based on the actual likenesses of the historical ancestors of iwi Te Kawerau ā Maki as they appeared, and its Māori practice not to gloss over injuries or bodily differences. If the ancestor had a club foot or an amputated limb, that’s depicted on the kauri pou. Interestingly, the carved figures all have erections, which is a symbol of their mana or life force.

After that, it’s on to Piha Beach, a black sand beach on the west coast, where we perhaps run into what I would call a crowd, but there’s a difference—based on the license plates in the parking lot, it’s clearly a crowd of locals, which is hardly over-tourism (although the addition of tourists to an already-popular local spot is almost certainly not helpful, although it’s also worth noting it happens to be a summer Saturday when we visit).

Overall, I didn’t find New Zealand to be overtouristed on the scale of, say, Venice, but the country’s International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) of $100 NZD will certainly go to ensure that a portion of the financial burden for developing tourism facilities in New Zealand is paid by visitors and not New Zealand taxpayers.

In the meantime, I found the country to be a wonderful “vibe-cation”—the scenery was lovely and the people were friendly, even if the country wasn’t chock-full of whizz-bang attractions. I found the place utterly relaxing, with plenty of spots to chill out and have a zen moment. It’s harder to do that in a crowd, so I can say confidently that New Zealand’s efforts to combat over-tourism are working, but it also could have been my choice of venue.

I’d definitely cruise with Ponant and Smithsonian Journeys again. It felt like a vacation for the thinking traveler, and the small size of the ship and rather cerebral, conservation-and-culture-focused excursions felt like we were visiting New Zealand, but not intruding.