QTS-207 · Economic report · 2026
The South Island's contribution to the New Zealand economy
Report by economist Benje Patterson for the South Island Regional Transport Committee Chairs Group comparing the South Island's and each region's shares of population, GDP, exports, visitor spending and vehicle kilometres travelled with their shares of National Land Transport Fund (NLTF) spending. It finds the South Island had 27% of national VKT in the June 2025 year but received 11% of NLTF road expenditure (12.0% over three years). Otago had 5.7% of national VKT and received 2.9% of NLTF expenditure, while accounting for 21.2% of international visitor spending.
Key figures
- South Island: 26.8% of NZ VKT (13,529m of 50,434m VKT, June 2025 yr) [p.10, Table 8]
- South Island: $1,086m of $9,551m NLTF road expenditure = 11.4% (June 2025 yr) [p.11, Table 9; p.10]
- South Island: 12.0% of NLTF expenditure over three years to June 2025 [p.10 fn 5; p.11 fn 6]
- Otago: 2,892m VKT = 5.7% of NZ total [p.10, Table 8]
- Otago: $277m NLTF expenditure = 2.9% of NZ total [p.11, Table 9]
- Otago + Southland: 8.4% of VKT, 4.0% of NLTF spend [pp.10-11]
- Otago: population 253,900 = 4.8% of NZ [p.6, Table 2]; goods exports $4,155m = 5.4% [p.7]; international visitor spending $4,209m = 21.2% [p.9]
- Queenstown Airport 2,601,900 passengers (944,200 international), June 2025 yr [p.14, Table 11]
- South Island: 24% of population, 22% of GDP, 33% of goods exports, 40% of international visitor spending [p.2]
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Citation
Benje Patterson, The South Island's contribution to the New Zealand economy (July 2026, V3, released 13 August 2026). Prepared for the South Island Regional Transport Committee Chairs Group.