Four million dollars to boost visitor arrivals into New Zealand on Qantas

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was announced by TNZ Chief Executive Kevin Bowler and Qantas Regional General Manager New Zealand and Pacific Islands, Rohan Garnett at the industry trade event TRENZ 2012 in Queenstown, New Zealand.

The MOU outlines a financial commitment to joint planning and partnership marketing in New Zealand's key tourism markets of Australia, the USA, the UK and Germany.

Each party will invest NZD one million each year for two years from 1 July 2012, to 30 June 2014.

Rohan Garnett says the new agreement continues the strong relationship between Qantas and TNZ.

"Qantas has served New Zealand for over 50 years and we are committed to bringing international visitors here through our extensive global, Australian and trans-Tasman network.

"We are delighted to be partnering with TNZ to promote the world-class tourism experiences on offer in this country.  By working together we hope to make a compelling case for visitors in key markets to visit NZ flying with Qantas.

"We particularly look forward to developing the inbound tourism market from Australia, which underpins the close economic and cultural relationship between our two countries. In the long-haul markets of the UK, US and Germany, meanwhile, a combined approach will ensure New Zealand stands out in the competitive global tourism environment."

Kevin Bowler says a partnership approach to marketing underpins the organisation's strategy and is delivering impressive results.

"Through partnership marketing we achieve greater reach and effectiveness of our campaigns by combining funds and offering attractive offers for potential visitors. With access to Qantas's databases such as Frequent Flyer, we can also be much more targeted in our marketing and talk directly to people with an interest in the 100% Pure New Zealand experiences on offer.

"Having delivered partnership campaigns with Qantas previously, we know how successful they can be.

"In May last year we supported the Qantas 'Great Crusade' competition which offered flights to New Zealand and a scenic tour of the country to follow the Qantas Wallabies.

"Around 70 per cent of those who saw the campaign agreed that it increased their interest in visiting New Zealand within 12 months and some AU$1 million in PR exposure was achieved."

The TNZ-Qantas partnership will target four of New Zealand's most significant visitor markets, with a primary focus on Australia.

"Australia remains our largest source of visitor arrivals and this agreement focuses on our core trans-Tasman market," says Kevin.

"Qantas remains a significant airline out of the US, Germany and Europe and we expect this partnership to help tackle some of the challenges we face in those markets with the high New Zealand dollar and global financial crisis."

Partnership agreements are estimated to add an additional NZ$25 million to TNZ's NZ$84 million annual budget in the year ending 30 June 2012.

Cooperative activity includes advertising and promotional campaigns, television promotional activities, and an on-line presence and profile through each party's websites.

For more information about Tourism New Zealand's activity in Australia see the Australia Market Activity pages.

About Qantas
Qantas is Australia's largest domestic and international airline. It is one of the world's most respected full-service airlines and an iconic Australian brand, with an outstanding reputation in safety, customer service, operational efficiency and technical innovation. The Qantas network spans 46 countries across Australia, Asia and the Pacific, the Americas, Europe and Africa.