Drawing conclusions on the performance of the tourism sector requires a distinction to be made as to the type of performance being measured. New Zealand’s Tourism Strategy 2010 considered this issue and recommended that the future emphasis should be on the sustainability of the private sector evidenced by financial and economic performance that enabled innovation and competitiveness in both local and international markets. Although the private sector is tourism’s most significant economic contributor, it also enjoys economic contributions from the public sector in the form of product management, promotion and a broad range of infrastructure dimensioned beyond the reasonable needs of international visitors but rather to satisfy community demands. Such contributions should enhance the private sector’s performance if only through the mechanism of cost avoidance. This, together with the underlying nature of tourism enterprises – numerous, independent, geographically disparate and mainly small – suggests that proprietor behaviour and business performance is an important aspect of addressing the objective of financial and economic sustainability cited in the tourism strategy.