New Zealand’s international visitor arrivals hit a record 3.3m in 2015. An overall increase of 10.4% year on year to overtake Australia on growth with a wry smile in the process.
Sharing the countries best ever results at Trenz 2016 in Rotorua, Kevin Bowler (CEO Tourism New Zealand) said that the fact they had beaten Australia this year made it “even sweeter”, particularly as Tourism Australia has also had such a successful year numbers wise.
Let’s face it, the Kiwi’s love beating us Aussies at anything.
Let’s not talk about it shall we… Pic: Allblacks.com
Be it Rugby, Netball, tiddlywinks or even airline dance offs (hello Air New Zealand vs. Qantas), our Trans Tasman cousins take great pleasure in getting one up on us whenever they can. It’s what makes our sibling rivalry such a fun and sometimes-fierce one.
So while Tourism Australia did indeed have an excellent 2015 achieving a total of 7.6m inbound visitors with significant growth of 8.7% year on year, Tourism New Zealand went next level with an increase of 10.4% versus 2014 off the back of a record 3.3m arrivals for the year.
Not only that but New Zealand’s international visitors (us Aussies included) average spend ker-chinged a wallet busting 31% to bring in a total of NZ$9.7b to the local economy coffers.
So how did they do it? Amongst other factors, Tourism New Zealand cites long-term trade partnerships and a successfully executed digital marketing strategy as well as increased connectivity to the world and regionally via new and enhanced airline routes and capacity as key drivers.
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Increased global awareness thanks to homegrown movie blockbusters such as The Hobbit trilogy and Middle Earth as well as a continued flow on effect from the success of Rugby World Cup 2011 also helped a record number of passports be stamped on the way in too.
New Zealand was even voted #1 film tourism destination in the world by HBO viewers in 2015, ahead of New York (Sex and the city) and Northern Ireland (Game of Thrones). A massive win when you think of the popularity Game of Thrones has reached in recent years.
A record 1.4m Aussies flying over the ditch ensured we far and away topped New Zealand’s visitor ranking again in 2015, which was impressively up 7.2% versus last year. The Megan Gale factor perhaps?
Clearly our appetite and momentum to experience more in the land of the long white cloud continues to build as new tourism options, experiences and trade initiatives are launched such as the recent helloworld partnership with Christchurch and the South Island Tourism and Flight Centre’s continued partnership with Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand.
The highly acclaimed ‘All Star Mega famil’ for 400 agents and ran by Tourism New Zealand and Virgin Australia back in September 2015 was also credited as a contributing factor in getting the Australian trade to see and feel Aotearoa for themselves with Kevin Bowler (CEO Tourism New Zealand) telling KarryOn at Trenz 2016 in Rotorua;
“The famil definitely worked for us and we’ve already seen really positive results from the agents that particpated. There’s no substitute for coming over to see New Zealand for yourself and then being able to go back and sell the destination with passion.”
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Kevin Bowler (TNZ CEO) speaking at TRENZ2016
“A big part of our job in Australia is to help agents convert sales by breaking down New Zealand into many different experiences. Of course people already know we exist as a destination so it’s really about matching a variety of appealing interests with great tactical deals to get more people to travel across the Tasman”. Bowler said.
Not surprisingly, China too has an increasingly ravenous appetite for experiencing New Zealand and moved on up into second place in 2015 with 378,000 arrivals, up a massive 35% versus 2014.
The USA came in third with 254,000 arrivals – up 11.8% followed by the UK with 214,000 arrivals – up 7%. Then it was Japan in fifth with 91,000 arrivals – up 9.5% and Germany who grew their numbers in 2015 by 11.5% with a total of 90,000 arrivals.
And there’s much more good news to come according to Tourism New Zealand with a goal of 4.5m people arriving by 2025. A number they say they are well on track to welcoming with a very big smile.
“The most precious thing people have is their time and so how they allocate that time is vital. Outside of the most popular hotspots, we think we’ve got fantastic corners of New Zealand to discover for everyone – whatever they’re interested in. Our challenge is to continue to ensure we can grow capacity and create adequate infrastructure across the country to meet demand” said Bowler.
Small in land mass and population it may be, but New Zealand continues to punch well above it’s weight in capturing the attention and winning the hearts of more and more travellers far, far away from Middle Earth.
What do you think of Tourism New Zealand’s results? Share your thoughts below.