Competing for global visitor

New Zealand, a niche tourism destination, is working hard to provide a great visitor experience and sustainably develop international tourism while creating employment, protecting heritage and replenishing nature.

TT Bureau

In an incredibly competitive market, New Zealand is working hard to find ways to stand out from the crowd. They aim to drive the desire for destination New Zealand and convert demand into bookings. TRENZ, a significant international travel trade event for New Zealand’s tourism industry, was held in Christchurch to showcase their products and services to high-quality international travel buyers. During the event, TRAVTALK caught up with René de Monchy, Chief Executive, Tourism New Zealand, to understand his vision for the sector. Here are the excerpts:

Fierce competition

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on global tourism. With borders now open and tough economic conditions around the globe, destinations are competing fiercely for visitors. Tourism is critical to many countries’ economies and New Zealand is no different.

Tourism New Zealand is influencing the quality of international visitors for the long-term benefits. “We target visitors who are more likely to positively contribute to Aotearoa New Zealand’s culture, nature, society and economy. By 2030, our vision is that all visitors to New Zealand are high-quality and lead to a more productive and regenerative Aotearoa New Zealand,” Monchy said, adding that high-quality visitors are not about high net worth, but travellers engaging with our culture, those that will undertake a range of experiences while they are here and travel at different times of the year.

Tourism earnings

Prior to COVID, tourism was New Zealand’s number one export earner, delivering $40.9 billion to the country. Tourism made a significant positive impact on regional economies by supporting employment by directly employing 8.4 per cent (229,566 people) of the New Zealand workforce.

Since the pandemic, pent-up demand for New Zealand and airline connectivity supported a strong start to New Zealand’s tourism recovery with total holiday arrivals at 57 per cent of the pre-COVID levels in January.

“Preference for New Zealand among those actively considering visiting it is at an all-time high of 44.8 per cent, giving us a highly motivated group of people to reach with our campaign activity,” he said. “However, tough economic conditions and fierce global competition mean recovery is expected to plateau. We have seen this already with visitor arrivals at 53 per cent in February. We are also seeing flight sales made through our offshore travel agents, plateau for future travel in May and June,” he added.

However, holiday visitors are spending $610 (16 per cent) more on average. Between July and December, these visitors contributed 1.5 billion to the New Zealand economy. “While preference for international travel to New Zealand remains high as a result of work in markets, we do expect this to decline. Tourism New Zealand needs to be nimble to respond to the global context shifts. We will continue to inspire and build desire for the destination New Zealand through our activities. With the aim of growing the pool of people actively considering New Zealand as a destination,” he said.

“To stay top of mind for travellers, look after our home, provide a great visitor experience and support the country’s economy, New Zealand needs to work harder than ever before. In a nutshell, while off to a strong start, international visitation is expected to plateau and we will need to work hard to support visitation, competing with other destinations that have bigger budgets to keep New Zealand top of mind,” he said.

Strength

Monchy said that New Zealand’s key strengths also include positioning the destination as a place to escape, relax and refresh, that is clean with many unique experiences. “Travellers who are interested in doing more, seeing more, and engaging more deeply with Aotearoa are more likely to be higher-quality visitors – those who want to engage in our natural environment, and those who want to experience our culture,” he said.

“Our research also shows that consumers are increasingly looking for destinations that can simply and authentically demonstrate sustainable practices. We are confident the New Zealand tourism industry can deliver on this. We aim to ensure that we deliver on the promise of the holiday of a lifetime,” he concluded.