Industry Information

Tourism New Zealand Activity

Tourism New Zealand conducted research into the UK market, which has found that awareness of New Zealand is high despite strong competition. A new consumer campaign to be launched in September 2008 is set to help overcome the barriers of being a ‘trip-of-a-lifetime’ destination by prompting potential visitors to come now.

The new campaign uses real traveller testimonials filmed in New Zealand to capture the value of ‘word of mouth’, which has shown to be an important purchase trigger for the UK market. The new campaign - ‘What do you say UK?’ - will roll out on television and online from September and will sit alongside the 100% Pure New Zealand campaign, which continues to be important in building awareness of New Zealand as a holiday destination.

Tourism New Zealand has been working closely with trade partners in the UK to secure their support for the new campaign.

In August Tourism New Zealand ran a four-day product workshop in London, the final part of a two-year product development initiative with regional tourism organisations. This event included frontliner training for 120 UK agents and one-on-ones with product managers from across Europe. Thirty-seven NZ companies and eight regional groups attended.

The Giant Rugby Ball venue is to go up in London from 25 November to 2 December. In a coup for New Zealand and Tourism New Zealand, the International Rugby Board will use the venue for the Rugby World Cup 2011 Pool Allocation Draw on 1 December 2008. A total of 250 international media outlets are expected to attend this event.

A Matariki-themed media event was attended by 58 key media and airlines contacts in June, with resulting coverage in Conde Nast Traveller (circulation 85,000) and NZ Inspired magazine (circ.12,000).

A ‘Great Walks’ campaign was launched during March promoting walking in New Zealand through specialist outdoors publications and websites. This is the first initiative in a two-year campaign targeting special interest groups in the UK and Germany. An interactive stand at the Birmingham Outdoors Show in March brought the campaign to life, using touch screen and text message technology.

The winners of Tourism New Zealand’s UK New Zealand Tourism Awards 2008 were announced in London in early May. The Supreme Award for New Zealand Travel Specialist of the Year went to Audley Travel.

Competitors for New Zealand

It is expected that 2008 will be a strong year for domestic tourism in the UK due to the current credit crunch. Domestic travel sellers reported a 10 per cent increase in bookings over the final quarter of 2007. (Source: The Telegraph, 1 February 2008).

While New Zealand was rated as best country/long-haul destination in Wanderlust travel magazine and the British Daily Telegraph readers' polls in 2007/08, we fell to fifth place in the Guardian/Observer Awards. Being voted behind Canada, Vietnam, Japan and Argentina is a good reminder that competition is now coming from a range of countries we would not normally consider competitors.

Emerging destinations including Colombia, Vietnam and Botswana are picked to be hot destinations in 2008. One major New Zealand travel seller has also reported a 26 per cent increase in bookings to India for the coming 12 months.

The USA continues to be the most popular long-haul destination for British travellers due to the weak dollar, which is also benefiting other US dollar based destinations such as the Caribbean.

With the strengthening Euro, UK holiday numbers to Europe have dropped; this is prompting some strong discounting. The Olympic Games in Beijing are also likely to boost UK visitor arrivals to China beyond 550,000. (Source: ABTA Magazine, January 2008).

Australia is due to launch its summer marketing programme in early September but will hold back significant funds to support the release of the movie ‘Australia’, which is expected to be a major tourism boost when it opens at the box office on Boxing Day 2008.

Doing Business in the UK

Business methods in the UK closely parallel New Zealand and exporters are unlikely to encounter any unfamiliar situations with regard to business practice.

Around 66% of the British use the Internet. (Source: World Internet Stats) In the latest Economist Intelligence Unit ranking of ‘e-readiness’, the UK ranks 8 out of 70 countries with a ranking of 8.68 out of a possible 10.

Sources: Tourism New Zealand Regional Rap
Ministry of Tourism www.tourismresearch.govt.nz
NZTE Country Profile http://www.marketnewzealand.com/MNZ/services/14431.aspx
Economist Intelligence Unit e-readiness Rankings 2008 http://a330.g.akamai.net/7/330/25828/20080331202303/graphics.eiu.com/upload/ibm_ereadiness_2008.pdf