Speaking at the Shaping Our Future annual meeting in the resort this week, Christopher Luxon said a ''truckload'' of infrastructure challenges faced many parts of the country and it would take a collaborative approach and a range of initiatives to solve them.
Mr Luxon said one of the key issues was ''mixed use infrastructure'', for example roads, parks and public toilets.
''Everybody wants the free for all; everybody wants the benefit without putting the effort in.
''[When] you've got a low resident population and a high number of tourists coming in, how do you make sure your residents aren't paying for the tourists, effectively?''
While Queenstown's business case for a visitor levy to help offset the costs of tourists on the resort's infrastructure was well documented, Mr Luxon said the same pressure was being felt across the country.
He used Hahei, on the Coromandel Peninsula as one example, where there were 300 residents but 3000 who visited over summer.
''Waitomo: there's a single-lane bridge. The buses line up on the side because there is no parking.
''This is not a Queenstown problem; this is a New Zealand problem.''
Mr Luxon said Air NZ had been working on an international research project looking at funding models for tourism infrastructure.
The work, in conjunction with Auckland Airport and other major tourism companies, was being carried out by consultancy firm McKinsey & Company and was expected to be made public in a fortnight.
Mr Luxon said it was important to avoid ''local ad-hockery around bed taxes'', ''band-aid and number eight wire'' solutions.
''The challenge is ... how do we be strategic ... build up a fund of money to deal to those issues and comprehensively sort it out?
''We will ultimately get the country we deserve.
''We have to sort the [issues] out and get them fixed.''
When asked, he said his personal view would be to implement a national tourism levy which could be a combination of a bed and departure tax, working with airlines, the accommodation sector, camper van rentals and Airbnb.
The collection of that would need to be simple, ensuring the appropriate governance and fair dispersion recognising ''there are some places in our country ... that are doing all the heavy lifting''.
GST tourism receipts were ''through the roof'', from $1.7 billion to $2.6 billion in the last few years.
''That money should be put into this infrastructure,'' he said.
Further, there were opportunities around ''user pays'', particularly for national parks.
The Otago Daily Times reported last month Department of Conservation Director-general Lou Sanson believed it may be time to start charging for the use of the country's Great Walks. He raised a differential charge as an option.
However, that would require a change to Doc's legislation.
Mr Luxon said in other countries, for example the United States, ''you'd expect to pay $50 a day plus car parking'' to visit national parks.
Charging entry fees and for parking could generate an income to off-set the costs of tourists.
Aside from the nine Great Walks, ''lots of little Great Walks'' could be established to ease some of the pressure and open up other parts of the country, he said.
