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TOURISM FEELS THE CHILL?
By John Stokes
27 April, 2009
Not only are we heading into winter – traditionally a quieter time for the industry – but we are also heading into a period of economic downturn.
Or are we?
I listened to a fascinating discussion about all of this on National Radio on Sunday morning. On his programme “The Sunday Group” Chris Laidlaw had as his guests the Tourism NZ CEO George Hickton, the Travel Industry Association CEO Tim Cossar, and Ngai Tahu Tourism General Manager (Southern) David Kennedy. These three are perhaps the most qualified industry leaders to comment on where we are now - and where we are going. The thing that struck me most was that all three are singing in harmony - and their words are not all bad.
We’ve all heard the news reports that international visitor numbers are down ten percent from March last year. Wow! Doesn’t the media just thrive on a bad news story? But they’re not so enthusiastic about digging deeper to find out just what it is that is behind these bad figures, are they! So I thought the Hickton – Cossar – Kennedy discussion on Sunday was very, very timely.
Sure, visitor numbers in March were down ten percent. The group tour market, such as from Asia, is right down. Visitor numbers from the USA and the UK have also dropped. But our largest market, Australia, is looking better than ever. The backpacker market is still thriving and the opportunities don’t stop there….
George Hickton: “Qantas is promoting fares from Los Angeles to Auckland return for US$350.” That will almost certainly cause the now budget-conscious American market to sit up and take note – the cost of getting to the wonders of New Zealand that they’ve heard so much about in the ‘States will probably never be cheaper.
Tim Cossar: “The industry does need to keep marketing itself”. This is likely to pay large dividends in the very near future, as Australians and Americans look to New Zealand as an affordable and safe destination during the coming winter. “During the down times, buyers will gravitate towards safe, known brands.”
Hickton: “Late bookings is the trend – consumers are leaving it right to the end to decide.” David Kennedy: “This presents a challenge to operators – how to cope with the peaks and troughs, especially as it concerns staffing.”
This is where Tourist Times comes into its own – it’s right up to date. It's current. It's now! And it’s absolutely targeted at those free and independent travellers who are out there making buying decisions as they go. It's distributed only from those places they are most likely to visit, for the benefit of all. Tourist Times is affordable and effective for anyone – big or small. That’s something we pride ourselves on.
No doubt this all sounds very familiar, but I was feeling particularly smug with myself today when, having agreed with the comments all three were making last Sunday, I heard that bookings by Australians coming to New Zealand this winter were up between 50% and as much as 100% on last year, as claimed by South Island skifield operators. And it hasn’t even started snowing yet!
These are the first signs that the $5M winter promotion launched jointly by the NZ government and Air New Zealand at the Australian market is about to pay off. And, if you’re no-where near the skifields, don’t for a moment think you are going to miss out on this trade. One of the deals in the Aussie marketplace is free flights within New Zealand – for each trans-Tasman Air New Zealand sector bought (one really needs to buy two if you’re going to go home again) the buyer receives a free flight! That is going to distribute free-travelling Australians all over New Zealand. And who knows? They might just find their way to YOUR doorstep.
And add to this the increasing number of kiwis who are not going overseas, but taking domestic holidays, and we have a recipe to successfully offset any chill the media might prefer we stayed focussed on.
So the visitors ARE coming! And, when they do, we all want them to ENJOY! Right now, more than ever, we need these visitors going home thinking they’ve spent their money wisely. Having had a great experience, they should be going home wanting to tell all their friends what a great time they had! Ultimately that is the best form of advertising of all.
Listen to the full interview here (approx 45 minutes, 15MB)... http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday
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