Promote Auckland and fund major events

We want to introduce a 'bed night' visitor levy (charge) to help fund major events and attract more visitors to Auckland.

Destination management

Destination management involves coordinating all elements of Auckland as an attractive destination for visitors. This includes promoting positive economic, social and environmental outcomes.

Major events in Auckland

Attracting visitors and securing, promoting and delivering major events are vital to Auckland.

In our Long-term Plan 2024-2034 (LTP), we said we would continue to fund cultural festivals, but would need an extra $7 million in the 2025/2026 financial year to fund other major events such as:

  • Auckland Marathon
  • Auckland Writers Festival
  • ASB Classic.

'Bed night' visitor levy

The 'bed night' visitor levy would involve visitors to Auckland paying a charge of 2.5 per cent to 3 per cent when they stay in short-term accommodation like hotels and bed and breakfasts.

However, introducing this levy would require a change in central government legislation (law).

Subject to a change in legislation, a bed night levy would raise around $27 million each year to promote Auckland as an attractive visitor destination and fund more major events and activities.

As we consult on this annual plan, we continue to work with central government. They have not yet agreed to introduce this legislation.

Other options

We considered several options to raise the funds we need. However, most of the options we considered are either difficult to set up, or in the case of options like raising rates, are not in line with our LTP commitments to ratepayers.

Have your say

While we continue to work with the government to introduce the bed night visitor levy, we would like your views on this proposal.

Have your say now

You should know

The information on this page is an edited version of the Annual Plan 2025/2026 Consultation Document.

You can find more information about our proposal to introduce a bed night visitor levy, on page 8 of the Annual Plan 2025/2026 Consultation Document [PDF 8.0MB].

Illustration of two blue envelope-shaped graphics, each with a person sleeping on a bed. One envelope is the right way up and the other is upside-down.