Skift Take
Americans and Canadians have long thought that winter is a bad time to travel to New Zealand, but New Zealand’s tourism board believes it can dispel that misconception.
Dawit Habtemariam
New Zealand is eager to get its tourism sector back up and running at full speed after the entire country was completely shut down during the pandemic, and one of the ways to do that is to attract more visitors outside of the popular December to February months.
Tourism is generally the country’s largest source of employment, but international visitor numbers are still about 20% below pre-pandemic levels, and the country was slow to fully open up to international travelers, with borders not reopening until July 2022.
We spoke to New Zealand Tourism Director Rene de Monchy about the country’s recovery and efforts to attract tourists beyond the summer.
This interview has been edited for brevity.
Americans and Canadians flock to New Zealand
The North American market has been doing very well this year. What is driving this?
There are positive tailwinds from a positive exchange rate. The US dollar is strong against the New Zealand dollar. Compared to pre-pandemic times, the number of American visitors has increased by about 120% this summer.
From a flight perspective, we are more connected to North America than we were pre-COVID. Delta Airlines, which launched late last year, is flying to New Zealand for the first time.
New routes are being launched, including United Airlines from San Francisco to Christchurch on the South Island and Auckland to New York, and American Airlines is also set to resume service over the summer.
New Zealand hopes for more winter tourists
Talk about a renewed focus on growing tourism during the off-season.
Our destination is still very seasonal, so going forward, our focus will be on how to encourage people in North America, one of the most seasonal destinations, to travel year-round.
By the end of the summer in February of this year, we were still not 100% where we were before, but we were seeing a strong trajectory, revenues were up, and satisfaction was high.
We are particularly focused on the challenge of seasonality that has re-emerged in the tourism industry, meaning that in this three-month period, roughly 40% of the total value of the tourism industry is spent in a quarter of a year.
There will be new work coming to us that really showcases New Zealand, because we have a lot of myth-busting to do. Winter in New Zealand is very different to winter in New York, even in the spring and autumn.
Many activities in New Zealand can actually be enjoyed at any time – for example, the best time for whale watching is June or July.
René de Monchy, CEO, Tourism New Zealand
Collaboration with Taika Waititi
You launched the campaign with New Zealand director and actor Taika Waititi in October last year and it has garnered international attention. How has it panned out?
Taika, who is popular in New Zealand, was involved in that series as a director and actor. He produced it. I think it was the second or third series. It was filmed in New Zealand.
Part of it is that there’s an incentive for production companies to do that, and part of it is promoting New Zealand. So we approached him and said, “We have a great idea for promoting New Zealand, would you be interested?” He was really keen and we ended up doing a three-day shoot with him and obviously directing with his talent.
He brought his own quirky sense of humor to the idea that he couldn’t perform and a stand-in had to do everything, but ultimately highlighted the whitewater rafting and scenic flights and showed off the various activities he could do, like golfing and watching games. It was actually very well received.
New Zealand embraces Maori culture
A few years ago you launched a campaign called “If You Seek” that focused on Māori identity in New Zealand and put Māori at the heart of telling the New Zealand story, highlighting the concept of Māori in a way that was engaging to your audience.
That’s exactly what we wanted. We wanted to pique people’s curiosity and have them do a little bit of work. At the end of the day, it’s marketing. So we didn’t do a lot of work, but we wanted them to do a little bit of work. And that’s exactly what we wanted.
Māori culture is unique to New Zealand and our research shows that visitors to New Zealand see it as an interesting and important part of their trip to New Zealand. How can we bring out that culture and tell its stories as part of the New Zealand dream?
We’ve also seen a lot of new Māori-owned tourism products develop over the last few years, so people are actually seeing a range of Māori businesses outside of the ones they might have previously thought were more visible.
‘Lord of the Rings’ still draws tourists
The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit were filmed in New Zealand in the early 2000s. Does it still attract tourists?
It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Our research hasn’t been repeated since COVID-19, but even pre-COVID-19, we found that one in five visitors were interested in New Zealand because of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
It’s a great ad and it continues to be really effective because, as I always say, it’s the first time you see The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit on a streaming service, there are people who haven’t seen it or haven’t seen it yet, and it showcases New Zealand.
