New promotional initiatives and The Lord of the Rings are set to attract even more visitors to this land of diversity
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year, the number of visitors to New Zealand is expected to top two million
for the first time. Over the last decade, there has been a 40 per cent
rise in domestic and an 85 per cent rise in international visitors,
bringing in earnings of $8.9 billion. The aim is to boost this to $26
billion by 2010.
The tourism authority’s ‘100 per cent Pure New Zealand’
promotional campaign has been highly successful, relying as it does
on the awesome landscape, and the media attention surrounding the Lord
of the Rings should attract even more people to visit the places in
the film. The tourist board has also launched a new website, www.purenz.com,
that will take visitors on a virtual tour of the country.
The former Department of Tourist and Health Resorts, established in
1901, was the first ever government department set up specifically to
develop tourism. Geysers, thermal mudpools, volcanoes and mountains
were the main attractions for the 5,200 foreigners who visited that
year. The gorgeous scenery remains today, but much more besides. Over
the years the country has been creating dynamic, modern cities while
conserving the best of its culture and history.
The second most important tourist market is the UK
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Tourism
New Zealand chief executive George Hickton
says: “The brand, for us, is a thing called ‘new Pacific freedom’,
which we need to infuse in our advertising and stop presenting New Zealand
as a place with a lot of sheep and mountains. New Zealand is a young
land, it’s still developing, it’s still growing. The culture
is quite different and there is a new sense that we are a Pacific nation.
A new identity is coming through.”
After Australia, New Zealand’s second most-important tourist market
is the UK, providing 212,000 visitors last year; an increase of six
per cent on 2000. Those from the US fell, but still reached almost 200,000,
while the Japanese market continues to grow with 160,000 visitors.
It
can still take more than 24 hours to travel to New Zealand and Mr Hickton
concedes that this is can be a hard journey. “Tourists travel a
long way in an aircraft – it’s daunting – so we want
to make sure the experience is a quality one when they arrive,”
he says. “I believe our country is going to be geographically fortunate.”
The country’s remoteness has meant it has not been ravaged by industrialisation
and unplanned cities. The environment is everything and remains the
top reason why people visit. Attractions vary from the volcanoes and
geysers, Waitomo Caves and Wellington on the North Island to the South
Island’s Southern Alps, Christchurch and stunning scenery of Queenstown.
Places such as Dunedin have opened up to ecotourism and the Nelson-Marlborough
area attracts people looking for a mix of experiences, from art to food
and wine. Napier is popular for its art deco.
Most
tourists fall into two camps – the over 50s who enjoy what Mr Hickton
calls ‘soft adventure’, and younger thrill seekers. The former
include walking and touring, often combined with interludes at vineyards.
For those seeking exhilaration, New Zealand is the place to go. This
is where the earlier pioneering generation used their ingenuity to get
around, giving rise to jet-boating, river-rafting and ski-planes. One
of the first two men to conquer Mount Everest was New Zealander Sir
Edmond Hillary. Climbing and glacier walking were popular in the early
1900s and skiing developed as the Southern Alps were opened up.
Today, the country is synonymous with bungy-jumping. Although originating
in the Pacific island of Vanuatu as a show of courage and the celebration
of the yam harvest, it was an Oxford University Dangerous Sports Club
video that inspired the phenomenon in New Zealand. Thrill seekers can
now try out the world’s highest – the new 134-metre Nevis
Highwire.
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The
wilderness is the perfect setting for trekking, canyoning, horse-riding
and canoeing, and eco-tourism is growing in importance. Mr Hickton says:
“Kaikoura is a booming tourism environment due to the whale-watching,
but now there is also swimming with dolphins or even sharks.
“The aim is to achieve sustainable tourism development, with communities
involved. Tourism could be New Zealand’s biggest revenue earner.
One challenge is to build the quality of the experience rather than
the volume.”
Minister of tourism Mark Burton
says: “There is a huge amount of enthusiasm and optimism in the
tourism business here, as well as a commitment and willingness to develop
new attractions. We have a small number of very large companies involved
and over the next few years these companies are going to go up a notch.
“Our best and brightest often choose tourism as a career and tourism
has a future,” adds Mr Burton.
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