HAVING given its well-established 100% Pure New Zealand campaign a new spin earlier this year with the Every Day a Different Journey tagline, Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) is confident that the refreshed strategy will continue to appeal to travellers from South-east Asia.
“That’s been incredibly successful” Steven Dixon, regional manager, South and South-east Asia for Tourism New Zealand told TTG Asia e-Daily during its roadshow in Bangkok last week.
“The aim of the campaign is to highlight that we have these amazing landscapes that are easy to get to,” Dixon explained. Among the attractions are glaciers, snow-capped mountains, vineyards, indigenous Maori villages and hot springs.
The new tagline is expected to resonate well in Thailand, an emerging market for New Zealand with just 21,000 visitors a year, of whom just over half are tourists on a 12-day package.
“It will speak to this market because Thais, when they come to New Zealand, tend to explore places outside of the main tourist centres,” said Dixon. “We’ve got a target of five per cent growth for (Thailand) this year.”
As well, Thais are increasingly FITs seeking self-drive journeys in New Zealand, according to Dixon, which help disperse tourism throughout the country.
Whilst Thailand’s numbers are modest against the 1.3 million Australian and 300,000 Chinese arrivals to New Zealand, South-east Asia is becoming a niche but premium source, said Dixon.
New Zealand is usually busy during the November to March summer period, but TNZ is encouraging travellers from South-east Asia to come during the shoulder seasons from March to May and from September to November.
TNZ also have plans to tap the emerging markets of Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as having great hopes for the Indian market which grew 28 per cent last year to 42,000 arrivals.
