New Zealand can expect to see more Japanese tourists this summer
thanks to a partnership between Tourism New Zealand, Air New
Zealand and Japan's largest travel agency, JTB.
The three partners have launched a new 100% Pure New Zealand
retail promotion in 150 JTB stores around Japan with the goal of
capitalising on increased interest from Japanese holidaymakers in
travelling to New Zealand. New Zealand has become an attractive
destination for Japanese tourists because of favourable exchange
rates and a general increase in outbound travel from Japan as the
economy starts to improve.
The promotion follows an Air New Zealand announcement that it
will operate 14 additional charter flights from Japan to Auckland
this summer, providing an additional 3,220 seats on the popular
tourist route.
Tourism New Zealand Regional Manager Japan and Korea Jason Hill
said the promotion was expected to increase bookings on JTB Look
branded tours by at least 25 per cent over the coming summer. That
would equate to an additional 700 Japanese visitors and a total of
3,500 travelling on JTB Look branded tours over the summer, he
says.
"This is the largest ever retail store sales promotion we have
run in Japan. JTB have created a massive amount of jointly branded
marketing collateral for JTB stores and provided training
seminars on travel to New Zealand for 700 of their
salespeople."
To ensure those in JTB's busiest stores are fully
informed, 30 of their top salespeople will soon have the
opportunity to travel to New Zealand to get first hand experience
of the product they will be selling, Mr Hill says.
The number of Japanese tourists visiting New Zealand has
increased in recent months after a period of decline.
During August, 7,876 Japanese visitors arrived in New Zealand,
up 41 per cent on August 2009. Japanese visitor
numbers were also up 10.1% for the year ending August 2010.
The average Japanese tourist spends $4,609 per visit, ranking them
among New Zealand's highest spending international visitors.