The campaign features an Australian who dreams about New Zealand and is then guided through a range of New Zealand attractions including National Parks and stargazing with a surreal giant Kiwi.  

"The work seeks to inspire Australians to stop dreaming and encourage them to seize the opportunity to come to New Zealand,” says Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive René de Monchy.    

Tourism New Zealand’s research indicates that: 

• 77% of Australians who are actively considering travelling to New Zealand will come to holiday 
• 27% want to visit family and 15% to visit friends.  
• Around 60% of Australians actively considering a holiday indicated they are willing to come to New Zealand within six months of borders reopening.    

Over half of Australians are motivated to have a holiday that includes fun and enjoyment (56%) and to relax and refresh (53%). This presents a great opportunity for operators and businesses to offer experiences that appeal to this.    

“Despite record numbers of Kiwis ‘doing something new’ and travelling domestically, there is an estimated $12.9 billion annual gap from the loss of international visitors. The return of Australian visitors will go some way to helping reduce this gap, with both domestic and Australians about 70% of the pre-Covid visitor market.”  

“The campaign is designed to tap into people’s renewed desire to explore and showcases New Zealand’s natural environment, experiences and the warm welcome of our people.”    

“We are seeing longer itineraries being booked by Australians which helps support travel to more remote locations within New Zealand.”  

The activity will launch in May 2021 ahead of the New Zealand ski season, tipped to be a major driver of travel for Australians over winter and Tourism New Zealand will work closely with industry to support them to leverage it and attract Australian visitors.    

Destination Queenstown Interim Chief Executive Ann Lockhart says: "Australia is a hugely important visitor market for Queenstown, particularly over winter when Australian visitors previously made up around 50% of all of our international visitors."

"The ability to welcome them here is a huge boost for Queenstown and we are delighted the trans-Tasman bubble is open and our tourism operators are open and ready to welcome our Australian friends back.”

To support the tourism industry to leverage this campaign, Tourism New Zealand has developed a campaign toolkit that provides an overview of the campaign ‘Stop Dreaming about New Zealand, and Go’, the creative assets, and details of how partners can get involved in the campaign through their own channels.

Download the ‘Stop Dreaming about New Zealand, and Go’ toolkit.