Regional Tourism Boost Fund

About the Fund

The Regional Tourism Boost Fund (RTBF) is a contestable fund which provides $3 million to support regions to attract more international visitors and encourage dispersal of international visitors around the country.  

Applications must be a collaborative effort led by a Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO).  

Activities funded by the RTBF will be delivered between April and July 2025 and will target Autumn/Winter visitation. It is expected this will mean a strong focus on the Australian market. Successful proposals can build on existing activities or deliver new activities.

Funding cannot be used to substitute existing funding for promotional activities.

Who can apply

The RTBF is open to groups of collaborating organisations led by an RTO. The lead RTO will submit the application, be the contracted party, and be responsible for delivery of the project.

Groups must include a minimum of 2 RTOs (including the lead RTO) and show a high level of collaboration between all group members. There are no restrictions on what other kinds of organisations can join an application group (e.g., businesses, Māori tourism organisations, airports, councils, iwi organisations or charities).

For the purposes of this fund, an RTO is one of the 30 member organisations of Regional Tourism New Zealand. A list of these organisations is available on the Regional Tourism New Zealand website.

Regional Tourism Organisations(external link) — Regional Tourism New Zealand

How to apply

Applications open on 25 February 2025 and will close at 11:59pm on 11 March 2025.

Application forms will be available on this page from 25 February 2025.

Co-funding

Co-funding is not required. Participating organisations are free to contribute co-funding if they wish. The use or level of co-funding does not influence the outcome of applications. 

Eligibility criteria

Applications must:

• be led by an RTO which will be the contracted party for this funding and be responsible for delivery of the project
• include at least two RTO members in the application group
• deliver all funded activities between  April and July 2025
• demonstrate collaboration between all organisations involved in the application
• deliver new promotional activity – either by enhancing existing activities or delivering new activities
• demonstrate how planned activities will boost international visitor numbers quickly
• demonstrate how planned activities will increase regional dispersal of international visitors quickly
• demonstrate regions have capacity to host the additional international visitors
• include delivering an evaluation of the impact of the funded activities by 31 December 2025.

Assessment criteria

Applications will be considered by an independent panel with expertise in tourism promotion.

Priority will be given to those applications that can demonstrate:

• the ability to increase international visitor numbers quickly
• the ability to increase regional dispersal of international visitors quickly 
• high levels of collaboration between stakeholders
• a robust measure of the impact of the effectiveness of the activities, ideally in terms of visitor numbers and/or visitor spend.