The election is an opportunity to raise awareness among Mayors, Councillors, election candidates, council officers and communities of the value of hosting international and domestic visitors.

Your involvement helps create supportive local government partners who work with you to attract visitors and ensure growth is being managed in a sustainable way.

As a tourism operator, you can be actively involved and influence your council’s decisions. This can help you achieve Commitment 9 of the New Zealand Tourism Sustainability Commitment – Community Engagement: Businesses actively engage with the communities in which they operate.

TIA's Local Government Election Toolkit includes tips on how to get involved with your local council, talking points and statistics, and tourism's top priorities for new councils.

How to contact your local MP

Most Members of Parliament (MPs) have offices at both Parliament and at their electorate. You can write to them at either. They also have email.

MP contact details, including biographical details, Party/Electorate, current Parliamentary roles and Select Committees.

Use this map to find your electorate. 

Electoral profiles, including population summary, age group, ethnicity, iwi and religious affiliations, incomes, businesses and business locations.

Common contact details

The mailing address at Parliament for any current MP is:

[insert MP name]
Freepost Parliament,
Private Bag 18 888,
Parliament Buildings,
Wellington 6160

The main reception telephone number for the New Zealand Parliament is (04) 817 9999

Protocol and forms of address

Build a relationship with your MP

• Write to your local MP, introducing your organisation and highlighting the importance of tourism and the visitor economy to your community
• Schedule an appointment with your MP at their regular constituency clinic
• Invite them to visit your operation to experience a tourism business first-hand
• Invite your MP to events, new product launches, trade shows, workshops, presentations
• Offer to be a resource/sounding board/conduit to sources of information for your local MP on tourism-related issues

Keep up to date with recent TIA central government submissions and our policy positions. This will help in your efforts to build a relationship with your local MP, and lobby them on issues that impact your business and the wider tourism industry.

Tips on writing to your MP

Your MP probably gets hundreds of emails and letters so keep it short and to the point. 

• Personalise your letter so that it demonstrates your passion for the industry 
• Keep it to one page, MPs are busy people
• Keep to the point - don’t try and cover too many issues
• Summarise your key message in the opening paragraph
• Cover the key points, including the facts, e.g. value of tourism to New Zealand, foreign exchange earnings, domestic tourism, jobs and the other benefits, such as creating vibrancy in communities and instilling a sense of pride, being a catalyst for new infrastructure such as stadia and waterfront development, encouraging sustainability initiatives such as recycling
• Be courteous – the aim is to influence them and hopefully build a relationship
• Include your name and contact details
• Do run a spell and grammar check over the final letter
• Invite them to contact you for more information or to discuss further

Visit your local MP

MPs are available to meet with people at their Electorate Office in sessions known as a constituency ‘clinic’.  The clinic sessions are usually on Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays, as the House of Representatives (Parliament) tends to sit on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Some MPs also hold constituency clinics outside their main centre.

Call, write or email the electorate office and the member’s electorate secretary will arrange an appointment

• Make an appointment to discuss the benefits international and domestic visitors make to your community
• Ask some of your staff to attend the meeting with you, or go with a couple of other tourism operators
• Bring a letter to leave behind that highlights why the tourism industry is so important to New Zealand and your community, and issues and opportunities where you'd like their support

Follow up the meeting with a thank you email and offer to be a resource on tourism-related issues. Keep in touch - send the MP useful information, trends, links, reports as well as news articles or events that highlight why tourism is so important for your community/region/New Zealand.