Tourists claiming ACC for accident injuries are continuing to climb – almost 6000 claims in the last year, at a cost of more than $5 million.
For 2025 up to mid-November, there were 5933 claims for overseas visitors. That’s up from 1286 in 2021 when borders re-opened. Since then annual figures have continued to rise.
Most claims are from Otago. Last year, 2503 claims from overseas tourists were linked to accidents in Otago. Auckland had the next highest tally with 1517.
Otago University Associate Professor Simon Connell told 1News: “Tourists can for the most part get the same range of entitlements that Kiwis can. So treatment, rehabilitation, lump sum compensation for permanent impairment, compensation for lost earnings, but only on earnings that they've had in New Zealand.”
Revealed: The region experiencing a surge in tourist ACC claims – Watch on TVNZ+
But some Otago residents 1News spoke to, considered it a sore point.
Ayden Gillan told 1News: “I live in Queenstown and they [overseas visitors] come over skiing and everything like that. And we've got workers – they work for a couple of months and they go on ACC for four months, five months. It's crazy.”
The outlay for mishaps was more than covered by the benefits tourism brought to the economy however. Bank card transactions showed international tourists spent about $750 million last year in Otago alone.
Another benefit was the ACC system largely prevented tourists from suing for accidents.
Connell said, “the ACC scheme gives us a kind of shield from all of these kinds of claims”.
ACC Minister Scott Simpson said if we didn't cover tourists, it could open up a "litigation pathway".
"[If] they had an accident, fell over, broke their leg or something like that, then they would then be able to sue the entity or the business or the organisation where they fell over and broke their leg," he said.
Many injured tourists needed help from physio practices in Queenstown and Wānaka.
Physiotherapy New Zealand president Kirsten Davie said this was “especially around that winter time. So they [practices] take on additional professional staff.”
In terms of costs, tourist ACC claims totalled $5,089,000 in the year to November 15, but that didn't include hospital care in the first seven days.
“High speed injuries, that sort of skiing downhill and mountain bike injuries, they can bring more serious injuries,” Davie said.
The minister said he had no plans to change the accident compensation scheme.
“I think there's a real benefit in having a no-fault, no litigation scheme,” Simpson said.
“It's a fundamental aspect of our ACC scheme, which is world-class.”
SHARE ME