Asian visitors boost to tourism

The New Zealand tourism industry is facing significant challenges at present, but at the same time there are some enormous opportunities, Tourism New Zealand chief executive Kevin Bowler said in Queenstown yesterday.

The industry was still emerging from the global financial crisis, which had particularly affected markets, such as North America, the United Kingdom and Japan, then the Christchurch earthquake and Japanese tsunami dealt a further blow. Mr Bowler said the industry was focusing on the positives ahead.

"We're part of the Asian marketplace and no doubt that's an economic strength. Asia will be a big feature of tourism business in this and all parts of the world."Strong growth out of emerging markets, such as China, and a resurgence from Korea and southeast Asia, including India, would buoy tourism spirits.

Queenstown had been quick to capitalise on opportunities presented by the Indian market and Mr Bowler said he expected it would follow suit taking advantage of the massive growth anticipated from China.Operators needed to be aware of the different distribution channels, language, service expectations and food in these emerging markets."There's a whole raft to learn – it's not a lot different to seeing our first Japanese tourists years ago."

Chinese visitors to New Zealand had been up by 30 per cent, and Koreans a similar amount, just before the Christchurch earthquake hit. Malaysian visitors were up almost 100 per cent last month compared with April last year.Expanding Asian air links between Kuala Lumpar and Christchurch, Singapore and Auckland and Guangzhou had placed New Zealand at the "confluence of great economic growth".

Other saviours would include the Rugby World Cup and an influx in November of 500 of America's most influential travel writers for their annual conference."Nine out of 10 of them will be doing `famils' (tourism familiarisations) and first to sell out was Milford Sound."

While the rest of the South Island may have been benefiting as Christchurch had less accommodation after the earthquake, it was important to get an accurate message out that the airport and much of the city, such as the Antarctic Centre and nearby Akaroa was unaffected."We're trying to keep that balance ... while being careful not to oversell it."It could be later in the year before the Japanese started travelling again, as there was a cultural preference not to travel while others were suffering, Mr Bowler said.

It appeared some Queenslanders may also be holding back on travel plans as they rebuilt their lives after serious flooding earlier in the year. However, a very strong Australian dollar meant their spending power here was "extraordinarily good".Despite this Australian ski wholesalers were noticing a later booking pattern this year.

"We're optimistic they're travelling independently and just not booking packages."Snow is the main priority for us at this stage."Mr Bowler met NZSki chief executive James Coddington yesterday to discuss this year's ski booking trends.

Prime Minister and Tourism Minister John Key would be in Queenstown to address delegates on Wednesday and Mr Bowler would be travelling to India with Mr Key as part of a trade and tourism delegation next month.The Government has allocated $84 million of baseline funding to tourism for the next financial year in last week's Budget.

Source = stuff.co.nz