Visitor Satisfaction

Each year Tourism New Zealand commissions independent research to gain a sense of how satisfied our international visitors are with the experience New Zealand provides.

Making sure that international visitors have an enjoyable experience is the key to the future of the tourism industry.

Visitors that have the experience of a lifetime while on holiday in New Zealand are more likely to recommend us to other people or return for a second visit themselves.

Our visitor experience monitor looks at which aspects of their New Zealand holiday visitors enjoyed the most. We can use this information to improve the experiences and products we offer to visitors.

Summaries of the 2007/08 Visitor Experience Monitor findings have been compiled across the following areas: overall visitor satisfaction, accommodation, activities, competing destinations, environment, i-SITE, Māori culture, planning and information sources and transport.

A summary of the 2007/08 Visitor Experience Monitor findings for the USA follows.

Overall Experience
Of our US visitors, 94 per cent were highly satisfied with their visit to New Zealand and 97 per cent are likely to recommend New Zealand as a holiday destination. Of those US visitors who are very likely to recommend New Zealand (89 per cent of all US visitors), 92 per cent would be active advocates for New Zealand.

New Zealand delivers extremely well on a number of aspects for US visitors, with natural landscapes and friendly local people averaging scores of over 9.2 points out of a possible 10 for satisfaction.

Value for money and vibrant urban atmosphere show relatively lower satisfaction. These aspects need to be taken into context with consideration for the reasons US visitors choose New Zealand for an overseas holiday.

The Environment
Sixty-eight per cent of US visitors said the New Zealand environment exceeded their expectations; 73 per cent thought the New Zealand environment appeared to be managed sustainably.

Planning and Information Sources
Sixty percent of US visitors make their decision to travel to New Zealand six months prior to arrival.

The two most-used sources of information for choosing and planning a New Zealand holiday are travel guides/books and friends and family, with travel guides/books becoming more important once in the planning phase.

Accommodation and Transport
Private homes, luxury lodges and farmstays were the most satisfying accommodation options amongst the US visitors we surveyed, with a satisfaction rating of at least 9.2 points out of a possible 10. Helicopters, private cars and private yachts were the most satisfying transport options, all with a satisfaction rating of 9.2 points.

Competitive Destinations
In the past five years, US visitors were most likely to have visited Australia (40%), the UK (37%) and New Zealand (32%) for their previous holidays.

With a satisfaction score of 9.2, a previous New Zealand holiday (as opposed to the one just finished at the time of survey) was found to be much more satisfying to US visitors than any other top destinations visited in the past five years.

Activities
The following activities are those which visitors from the USA describe as highly satisfying, and that are important to a visitor’s overall holiday: