Prime Minister John Key has backed away from statements to Parliament about SkyCity hatching a land deal with TVNZ.

TVNZ says it has had no approach from SkyCity to buy its land for the proposed convention centre, contrary to the Prime Minister's assurances yesterday.

Officials in one of Prime Minister John Key's departments disregarded Treasury advice to seek guidance in how to conduct SkyCity talks with honesty and integrity.

SkyCity asked for taxpayers to pay for the marketing and promotion of the international convention centre, but the Government ruled it out.

National's damage control strategy has been to try to paint Key's earlier contacts with SkyCity as perfectly normal, writes John Armstrong

SkyCity got special treatment in its pitch to build the international convention centre - but nothing which will get in the way of a formal deal being struck.

The world knows us not only as New Zealand, but also as Aotearoa, the land of the long white cloud, Godzone, or - more recently - Middle-earth.

SkyCity got special treatment on talks around the international convention centre after the Prime Minister personally intervened.

New Zealand is losing its appeal to its most important source of overseas visitors - Australia, according to a survey.

Tourism groups are looking at ways to reform the tightly controlled Chinese visitor market one industry leader says is failing to deliver the benefits it should.

Putting out the welcome mat for Chinese tourists has set up Rotorua's Agrodome for what it hopes will be a record year of growth.

Child Youth and Family are supporting a teenager charged with a violent sex attack on a tourist visiting Waiheke Island.

Waiheke Island has been dubbed a must-visit destination for 2013 by the New York Times - a tourism coup an advertising executive says many would give their eye teeth for.

Editorial: Once, the Prime Minister's visit to Antarctica this week would have placed him among a select group. Not any more.

Heavy machinery was needed to winch out a tour bus that became stuck in soft sand on Ninety Mile Beach.

SkyCity and the company that runs the SkyWalk adventure on its tower have said very little since the incident on Saturday.

The great Kiwi camping holiday seems to be dropping out of favour, with few people willing to rough it in the wild without some modern comforts.

Health experts say Kiwis travelling to Indonesia should pay close attention to the source of any alcohol they drink, and avoid jugs of pre-made liquor.

A Kiwi teenager has died after drinking a methanol-laced drink while celebrating New Year in Indonesia - and his grandfather says the death is "murder, really".

Tourists say a rogue operator promised them visits to farms, geyser parks and buffet dinners - but instead took them to free events.

The North Island of New Zealand is the second best place in the world to get a tattoo, according to travel bible Lonely Planet.

A teenager has reportedly been blinded after drinking a methanol-laced cocktail in Bali.

The world's most populous nation has toppled the UK as NZ's second-biggest pool for visitors, though still well behind Australia.