A beautiful country seeing record emigration has infuriated residents with its new tourism campaign.
The New Zealand government recently announced a new slogan to attract visitors to the country – ‘Everyone must go!’ – as part of a new £227,000 campaign.
But Kiwis have called it tone-deaf due to record levels of emigration and unemployment.
The government has defended the campaign. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said: “I appreciate there’s lots of chat about whether everyone loves the slogan or not. The fact that we’re talking about it is a good thing. It’s a great thing.”
Cushla Tangaere-Manuel, tourism spokesperson for the opposition Labour Party, told Radio New Zealand (RNZ) that the new slogan “makes New Zealand sound like we’re in a clearance bin at a sale”.
“The irony of that messaging is, that’s how Aotearoa New Zealanders are feeling right now,” she said, referencing government cuts to public sector jobs.
The slogan also has another meaning for disgruntled Kiwis, who are moving out of the country in record numbers. Nearly 130,000 left last year, replaced by 160,000 immigrants.
“New Zealanders are voting with their feet, leaving in record high numbers,” Labour MP Barbara Edmonds said on X (formerly Twitter). “Is their real tourism plan ‘Everyone Must Go’ – for Kiwis?”
Others associated the slogan with a lack of lavatories: “I think ‘Everyone Must Go’ might refer to the need for toilets in some of our high-tourist spots. I mean, the queues are ridiculous,” Green Party MP Celia Wade-Brown told RNZ.
“They don’t go kayaking, they don’t go diving, but, my goodness, they queue at the toilets.”
Tourism minister Louise Upston said in a statement that “the campaign tagline of ‘Everyone must go’ lets Australia know that New Zealand is a ‘must visit’ destination, and that we’re ready and waiting to welcome them now”.
New Zealand welcomed more than 1.2 million visitors from Australia in 2024, but Upston said the number was only 88% of that in 2019.
The prime minister said he hoped the latest campaign would boost Australian visitor numbers by 5%: “It would be totally and utterly tragic if those Australians don’t get here before they do die.”
