British news website Daily Mail Online says New Zealand's claims to be clean and green are "pure manure".

"If there's a dent to that reputation that dent has the potential to hurt everybody ... " Tourism Industry Association chief Martin Snedden's blunt message.

Is there not at least a possibility the convention centre SkyCity is building in Auckland will turn out to be as future-proof as the windjammer and the rotary-dial telephone?

The downtown view of Rangitoto and Browns Island will be replaced by cranes and compromise Auckland's image as the City of Sails if port expansion plans go ahead.

Cruise ship visits to New Zealand are set to ease from the latest bumper season, but that has not diminished hope of seeing more tourism dollars.

Auckland's new primary cruise ship terminal was opened yesterday in a 103-year-old wharf shed.

Tourism Holdings' United States operation is about to expand with the launch there of the Britz brand.

Paris has launched a new kind of tourist guide: not a guide for tourists, but a guide to different types of tourists.

Unemployment is continuing to dog Auckland and hinder its economic recovery as employers express reluctance to take on new staff.

Branding countries is just as important as branding consumer products.

A tourism revival may offset coal mining job losses as Queensland grapples with the highest unemployment in almost a decade.

SkyCity says it has been "victimised" in the debate over the Convention Centre deal, but a law change to allow increased gambling has the potential to go ahead.

Auckland's $400 million International Convention Centre has come a step closer amid heated accusations that MPs failed to vote with their conscience in backing a law change which will allow increased gambling facilities at SkyCity.

Editorial: The SkyCity convention centre project is a gamble for all involved. But the die is cast, so let's back the country to get it right.

The company bidding to build a $100 million waterfront hotel in Dunedin is taking its fight to the Environment Court.

Visitor arrivals in May were up 9 per cent from the same month last year, Statistics New Zealand said today.

More than a third of the country's public lavatories have no soap and some even lack running water.

The New Zealand government and SkyCity Entertainment Group are giving themselves another fortnight to cut a deal on the terms for the casino and hotel operator to build a $402 million convention centre in Auckland in exchange for regulatory concessions.

Controversial plans for a $100 million 27-level Dunedin hotel have been knocked back.

Scarfie favourite, Dunedin's Captain Cook Tavern, could close by the middle of this month.

A New York Times write-up has lauded Auckland as a must-see travel destination for its vibrancy and homegrown products.

Former Fonterra chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden has apologised to China, its people and Government for telling an audience never to trust the Chinese.