Experience pure delight @ NZ

With the country’s exemplary 100% Pure New Zealand campaign, Steven Dixon, Tourism New Zealand’s Regional Manager — South and South East Asia, expects to continue seeing double-digit growth in arrivals from India to New Zealand year-on-year.

NISHA VERMA

The 2017 edition of Tourism New Zealand’s flagship B2B event—Kiwi Link, was for the first time held in Delhi. Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Steven Dixon, Tourism New Zealand’s Regional Manager – South and South East Asia, said, “We are excited to have Kiwi Link for the first time in the capital city of India. For the latest edition of the event, we’ve got support from the New Zealand tourism industry as well as from Indian travel agents. We have got a huge contingency of Indian agents here that has come from different parts of India, especially Mumbai. Interestingly, we are also seeing travel trade from Delhi in big numbers and a lot of business happening through the meetings.”

He informed that they had 40 products, which included 35 tourism operators from New Zealand, four airlines and Immigration New Zealand. “This is more than we’ve had in the past, and this year is particularly exciting as we have launched the refreshed New Zealand specialist programme. In the 100% Pure New Zealand specialist programme, we have taken a tiered approach, with gold, silver and bronze levels of specialisation. The agents can be a part of the specialisedcourse through the provided modules and attain a certain level with their merit. We will be announcing four trips to New Zealand this year for some of the qualified agents, who will be chosen on the basis of a draw in November 2017.”

Dixon revealed that New Zealand is seeing double digit growth in Indian arrivals. “We’ve had 57,000 arrivals from India to New Zealand between June 2016 and May 2017, which is an increase of 15 per cent from the last year, that is, June 2015 to May 2016. We are particularly excited to see the growth coming from Delhi and North India,” he said. He added that India is one of their top 10 source markets.

He informed that their New Zealand partners have joined together and created interesting itineraries, which may find fervour with the Indians. They have also launched the latest version of their 100% Pure New Zealand campaign. “Last week, we launched ‘where one journey leads to another’, which is our new twist on the 100% Pure New Zealand campaign. The brand has been running for 17 years and we keep refreshing it,” revealed Dixon.

Getting a visa to New Zealand is not a problem, he insisted. “The visa processing time is of around five days, and it is a very simple and cost-effective process. There is no barrier in coming to New Zealand,” he asserted. Talking on connectivity, he said that they have many one-stop options to reach New Zealand from India, like Bangkok, Singapore, Australia and Kuala Lumpur.

Future, he said, looks quite promising, as they are hopeful to continue seeing double-digit growth from the Indian market. “There is great support from New Zealand tourism industry and even better support from the travel trade industry of India. The future looks promising and we are very excited about it,” he concluded.

100% Pure New Zealand specialist programme

• Gold, silver and bronze levels of specialisation
• Different modules provided for specialisation
• Sponsored trip to New Zealand for select agents from the qualified lot
• Selection of agents on the basis of a draw in November 2017