Labour says it will appoint a "real" tourism minister when it is in government and it's blaming the man who holds the job - Prime Minister John Key - for the sector's poor outlook.

The annual State of the Tourism Sector report, released on Thursday, says New Zealand has "fallen off the global radar" as a desirable destination.

That's put down to increased competition from other countries and economic conditions in those where New Zealand's visitors often come from.

Mr Key took on the tourism portfolio after winning the 2008 election and Labour leader David Shearer says he hasn't been paying attention to it.

"He believed his mana as prime minister would provide a real boost to the sector - clearly it hasn't," Mr Shearer said on Friday.

"It's not enough to swan around indulging in photo ops and smiling and waving - tourism needs hard graft."

He says tourism is a $63 million-a-day industry which employs one in 10 workers and it needs a minister who doesn't treat it as a "plaything".