Tourism New Zealand was named 'Australasia's Leading Tourist
Board' at the World Travel Awards on October 14.
The World Travel
Awards, launched in 1993, have been described as the "Oscars"
of the travel and tourism industry by The Wall Street Journal. This
year the awards attracted a huge 185,000 votes from industry
professionals.
The award for 'Australasia's Leading Tourist Board' was
presented at an Asia and Australasia gala awards ceremony at The
Claridges Surajkund hotel in the outskirts of Delhi, India.
Tourism New Zealand's competition in the Australasian tourist
board category included fellow finalists South Pacific Tourism,
Tahiti Tourisme and last year's winner, Tourism Australia.
Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive Kevin Bowler says it is an
honour to receive the award.
"Tourism is a fiercely competitive industry so it's a real pat
on the back for Tourism New Zealand to be recognised
internationally for being among the best," Kevin Bowler
says.
"Our people work hard to promote New Zealand as a tourist
destination and we have had great success in recent years. Our
world-beating 100% Pure New Zealand
marketing campaign, launched in 1999, has proven remarkably
resilient despite the challenges and rapid change faced by the
industry over the past decade."
Since its foundation in 1991, Tourism New Zealand has helped
grow New Zealand tourism into an industry that contributes more
than $6 billion a year to the nation's economy.
The tourism industry is now one of New Zealand's largest export
industries, second only to the dairy industry in terms of foreign
exchange earnings.