Make flights to New Zealand more expensive to deter tourists, says aviation adviser

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Make flights to New Zealand more expensive to deter people from visiting, an aviation adviser has said.

Sir Jonathan Porritt, an adviser to Air New Zealand, has said the cost of international flights to the Pacific nation should be increased to pay for greenhouse gas emissions.

“Controversial though it may be, I’m in favour of putting off some people coming to New Zealand,” Sir Jonathan told local media outlet Newsroom.

“I just don’t believe in the idea that the number of international visitors to New Zealand can grow and grow and grow without limits.

“I just don’t believe that is credible and I don’t believe it’s right. So, if a higher price for the privilege of flying to New Zealand puts some people off, good.”

His comments follow a proposal by Kiwi MP Simon Upton to apply a distance-based departure tax to all flights out of New Zealand, which would add as much as NZ$155 (£80) onto an economy ticket from the UK.

New Zealand’s borders are currently shut to all tourists as part of strict measures to control the spread of Covid-19, and are likely to remain that way for the rest of the year.

In a normal year, the country would receive around 4 million tourists, which isn’t far off the number of people who live in New Zealand: 4.9 million in 2019.

Air New Zealand wouldn’t be the first airline to ask its passengers to consider the climate.

In 2019, Dutch airline KLM launched a new marketing campaign asking passengers to “fly responsibly”.

The carrier published an open letter from CEO and President Pieter Elbers asking both passengers and the industry to “work together” to “truly create a sustainable future for aviation”.

Moves suggested by Elbers included encouraging airlines to use KLM's carbon offset programme, as well as joining a biofuel programme. KLM also invited passengers to “make responsible decisions about flying”.

In a normal year, between two and three per cent of all manmade carbon emissions in the world come from aviation. Each year, around 4.6 billion journeys are made by air.

The Independent has asked Tourism New Zealand for a response.