Traditional markets remain a target, says TNZ

Traditional markets remain a target, says TNZ
By admin


Tourism New Zealand chief executive Kevin Bowler has set his sights on maintaining growth from traditional source markets as well as focusing on the sought after Chinese tourist.

While the UK is unlikely to return to the highs of the 1980s, Bowler said he was confident of once again breaking the 200,000 barrier.

In Japan meanwhile, Tourism NZ will continue to ramp up its focus on the youth market with Bowler admitting it has previously relied on attracting over 65s

Latest figures, for April, show the UK market dipped almost 4% to 10,770 with arrivals from Japan rising 1.8% to 4,496.

Arrivals in the 12 months to April from the UK fell 27,000 to 189,000 with Japan up 8,628 to 75,552.

Australian arrivals meanwhile climbed 0.8% to 93,000 with holiday traffic up 6.3% to 34,608.

Bowler said he “sensed” that New Zealand was as attractive as it has ever been but that the “will” to travel long haul has dropped.

“Currency factors and the general economy in the UK are contriving against us but take some of those things away and we’ll see that growth come back,” he said.

“We have a moving annual figure of about 190,000, and I’d be surprised if it came back to historical highs, but I’d like to see it get back above 200,000.”

Potentially spill over benefits from the Ashes cricket series in Australia later this year and the joint hosting of the Cricket World Cup in 2015 should help swell arrivals, he added.

Meanwhile, the agency will retain its focus on the youth market in Japan after concentrating on older travellers in recent times.

Such a strategy of targeting over 65s had been “limiting”, Bowler said. But additional government funding handed to Tourism NZ last month will enable marketeers to refocus on the younger market with “meaningful weight”.

“We have had the right strategy but it has been underfunded until recently,” Bowler said. “The annual number of Japanese travellers is 75,000, two years ago that was 85,000. We have had a strong year of growth [up13% to 75,552 in the 12 months to April] and if we stabilise somewhere close to 100,000 that would be fantastic and I’d be extremely pleased.

“The future success is hooking into that younger market and not being isolated on the older market which is always a bit limiting.”

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