Six months into the job and Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive
Kevin Bowler was put under the spotlight last week at the Inbound
Tour Operators Council (ITOC) annual conference.
Facing questions from ITOC Chief Executive Paul Yeo, Kevin
Bowler took the opportunity to unveil new in-depth targeting research
identifying those most likely to visit New Zealand, their
preferences, 'emotional drivers' and ways of booking travel.
He described the research as "motivating" and urged delegates
and operators to work out how they could use the findings in their
businesses.
"It's really exciting to have such clarity around New Zealand's
footprint worldwide and an understanding of the people who are
already thinking about a New Zealand holiday.
"What we found was that there are a large number of people
globally who are actively considering New Zealand. The research has
given us an understanding of what makes this group of people
different from the general population.
"They tend to be from higher income households, tend to be
households that are pre or post having children and, by and large,
they're experienced international travellers. We also learned
they're looking for a fun, relaxing, rejuvenating holiday and that
they're interested in activities that are accessible and
enjoyable."
Kevin Bowler said Tourism New Zealand did not need to talk to
everyone, but would focus on those who are already thinking about
coming to New Zealand.
"We now know how many of them there are, what makes them
different, what makes them interested in New Zealand, what messages
we need to give them to motivate them to come here and how we reach
them.
"I'm really motivated by this new research because it tells us so
much of what we need to know," he told delegates.
Download key research
findings
Market selection
Talking about how Tourism New Zealand was planning to invest an
additional
NZD30 million of Government funding in the current financial
year, Kevin Bowler said while it was a big sum, it still required
focus and prioritisation to ensure the investment resulted in the
biggest growth opportunities for New Zealand.
To make that decision, he said Tourism New Zealand had looked at
factors like the economic growth recovery cycles in key markets and
the strength of aviation links. Tourism New Zealand had decided the
best opportunities for growth lay in the US, China and Germanic
Europe.
Australia, which remained New Zealand's biggest market, was a
"double-edged sword". Around 45 per cent of New Zealand's
international visitors arrivals now come from Australia, making New
Zealand reliant on the Australian market. Kevin Bowler said Tourism
New Zealand needed to balance the opportunities presented in
Australia with the need to rejuvenate growth in long-haul
markets.
North America
Asked specifically about the US partnership with Air New
Zealand, Kevin Bowler said the landscape had changed as a result of
Continental
Airlines' announcement that it is to fly from Houston to
Auckland from next year.
That competitive change meant Air New Zealand had reduced its
level of partnership investment in the US, but together the two
organisations are upgrading efforts in other markets worldwide.
"We're in a better in a better position now in North America
because we can partner with more players and in other parts of the
world we can continue to strengthen our position with Air New
Zealand."
Kevin Bowler said independent analysis suggested that New
Zealand could expect to see a net growth of around 20,000
international arrivals as a result of the new Continental
service.
Overall, he said the US and other markets were recovering from
the global financial crisis, but more slowly than had been
anticipated at the start of the year and that had to be factored in
to how and where Tourism New Zealand invested.
Getting results
While Kevin Bowler said increased Government investment in
tourism was a vote of confidence in the sector's ability to deliver
economic returns, that came with the expectation of greater
results.
"The Government wants to see results from its investment. If we
can go to them and show increased arrivals and spend, we are in a
good position to make a case for continued increasing investment in
tourism. If we can't show them a return on investment then that is
a much more difficult conversation to have," he told ITOC
Conference delegates.
Changes to the TNZ team
Kevin Bowler also discussed the changes made to Tourism New
Zealand's Executive Team and set out his goals behind making the
changes.
He said his objective was to gather all New Zealand operations
under one person and that had been done with the appointment of Tim
Hunter as General Manager New Zealand Operations.
He also wanted more marketing "power" at Executive Team level.
Accordingly, Catherine Bates had been appointed as General Manager
Brand and International Public Relations. A second senior role -
General Manager Marketing Communications - is about to be taken up
by Justin Watson focusing on marketing campaigns (read more about
Justin Watson).
Perhaps the most important change, however, was one designed to
ensure Tourism New Zealand's Executive Team was focused on
international markets. Three senior management positions have been
created within the Executive Team: Mark Frood, General Manager
Long-Haul Eastern Markets; Gregg Anderson, General Manager
Long-Haul Western Markets; and Barry Eddington, Regional Manager
Australia.
While Gregg Anderson would be based in Los Angeles, Kevin Bowler
said the UK/Europe office would be staffed with senior managers
focused on trade relationships, marketing and public relations.
He said Gregg Anderson would have responsibility for North
America and Europe, and that the changes did not signal a step back
in Tourism New Zealand's commitment to key European markets.
"Having Gregg in LA is a pragmatic solution to working across
time zones. But we are wholly committed to the UK and Europe and
the office there will be staffed accordingly."
Joint ventures and partnerships
A topic of interest from many in the audience was to find out
more about how Kevin Bowler saw the development of partnerships and
joint venture work.
He said the Joint Venture Partnerships with Regional Tourism
Organisations (RTOs) had made some good progress.
"We've been working actively as a member of a group with RTOs to
try and make our efforts in Australia as effective as possible.
That's sometimes pretty hard in committee but we've made good
progress and we'll make more in the near future."
Other partnerships for Tourism New Zealand included those with
airlines Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand, Qantas and "a looming
one" with Continental, he said. But there were opportunities for
people with good ideas to come to Tourism New Zealand if the ideas
would grow inbound arrivals.
"I'm here for one reason: to grow the value of foreign exchange
earnings visitors bring to New Zealand, and if people have ideas
with enough scale for us to work with them, then come and talk to
us," he urged delegates.