The economy's return to stability has helped drive a swift
recovery in outbound travel and New Zealand is seeing the benefits
of this, with year-on-year growth in arrivals throughout...
Market Overview
New Zealand is a popular holiday destination among South Korean
travellers. Despite volatile market growth, it is New Zealand's
sixth-largest market in terms of visitor numbers and
seventh-largest source of expenditure.
Despite a drop in visitor arrivals, the amount of money each
South Korean visitor spends while visiting New Zealand climbed
significantly in 2009, increasing almost 40 per cent from NZD2,964
in 2008 to NZD4,131 in 2009.
Korean visitor arrivals returned to growth in December 2009,
after 18 months of decline. Declines were partly due to the
abandonment of shopping commission practices in late 2007, which
were an important source of income for agents, and reduced airline
capacity. The H1N1 Influenza A (Swine Flu) outbreak in May 2009 and
the global economic crisis also contributed significantly to a
sharp drop in outbound travel from South Korea in 2009.
However, visitor arrivals to New Zealand saw year-on-year growth
throughout the first quarter of 2010, indicating the market is
beginning to recover. Quality issues around low cost package tours
have diminished.
Tourism New Zealand is looking to take advantage of
opportunities in South Korea as it returns to strength. Our current
focus is on work with the South Korean travel trade to develop
higher end/luxury and free independent travel. These sectors match
well with what New Zealand can offer South Korean holidaymakers and
will help build yield from this market.
Fifity five per cent of South Korean visitors combine a trip to
New Zealand with another destination. About one-third travel to
centres outside the main regions. More than 70 per cent of holiday
visitors travel to New Zealand on pre-arranged group or
semi-structured tour packages organised by tour companies based in
South Korea.