New Zealand will be beamed into the homes of millions of
Americans tonight (8pm US Eastern-standard time), as the final six
contestants in the latest series of America's Next Top
Model head to New Zealand.
Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand jointly hosted the
America's Next Top Model crew for three episodes of
filming in November and December last year.
It is one of the first major results to come out of a new US
marketing partnership between Tourism New Zealand and Air New
Zealand, which aims to grow US arrivals from just under 200,000 to
around 320,000 by 2014.
Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive Kevin Bowler says: "By
bringing television shows like America's Next Top Model
out here to film, we are enriching the '100% Pure New Zealand'
campaign and showing Americans what they can actually do when they
come to New Zealand."
A website - www.gonewzealand.com - has been launched by
Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand, where America's Next
Top Model content and travel deals will be rolled out as each
episode goes to air.
The new marketing partnership will be the single largest
investment in one market the two organisations have made, with
several millions of dollars to be committed over the next 12
months. Activity will cover PR, online marketing and advertising;
as well as efforts to build the cruise and incentive markets out of
the US, and increase positive word-of-mouth from US travellers
visiting New Zealand.
Kevin Bowler says the US is Tourism New Zealand's 'big bet',
where investment could have a real impact on visitor numbers.
"New Zealand currently attracts less than 1 per cent of the 30
million annual outbound travellers from the US. We are confident
that a collaborative and targeted approach with Air New Zealand
will drive a significant shift in our performance in this
market."
"This partnership follows on from the outstanding success of
joint campaigns in Australia, which have seen total visitor numbers
grow by 15 per cent in the year to March," says Air New Zealand
Group General Manager International Airline Ed Sims.
"The US was the obvious choice for a deeper partnership model
offering visitor volume and real value to the New Zealand economy.
Air New Zealand currently operates more than 20 services a week
from North America so there is no shortage of opportunity to
capitalise on enhanced awareness."
Just over 196,000 Americans travelled to New Zealand in the year
ending March 2010. They spent an average of NZ$3,466 per person
while in the country (year-ending December 2009).
"If we can attract an additional 100,000 US visitors a year,
that means additional foreign exchange earnings of around $346
million in international visitor spend to the New Zealand economy,"
says Kevin Bowler.
This latest season of America's Next Top Model (Cycle
14) will air in New Zealand on TV3 in late 2010 or early 2011.
Read
more about the partnership activities
For more about America's Next Top
Model:
For more information please contact:
Sue Allen, Tourism New Zealand 029 917 5466; suea@tnz.govt.nz