Spend like you’re abroad
A Tourism New Zealand marketing campaign will try to persuade Kiwis to spend up large on domestic travel, the way they did on overseas trips.
But Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis said operators would also need to come to the party over pricing to attract customers. ‘‘People in tourism want visitors, but if they price themselves out of the market, they simply won’t have that.’’
Cabinet will decide on Monday whether to open up domestic travel with a move to alert level two next week, and Davis said Tourism New Zealand had a ‘‘special’’ campaign planned to change New Zealanders’ attitudes to holidaying at home.
A recent Research First survey of
270 New Zealanders showed almost
40 per cent were planning a domestic break within three months of restrictions being lifted, but 60 per cent found the cost of tourism activities off-putting. Only one in 10 were intending using international flight credits for leisure trips in New
Zealand.
TNZ’s campaign will attempt to get Kiwis to treat New Zealand like an overseas destination, and open their wallets accordingly.
Davis gave the example of a trip he and his wife made to South Australia last year, staying in hotels, eating out, and visiting vineyards.
‘‘If you compare that with my holidays in New Zealand, which are almost always to my mate’s place in Rotorua, where we go to the local supermarket and get groceries, we try to save money, and don’t do any of the tourist stuff in Rotorua.’’
TNZ chief executive Stephen
England-Hall said about four per cent of both domestic and international visitors spending was on activities, and it was important to identify the types of activities New Zealanders preferred.
‘‘Kiwis doing a three-day hike will carry all their gear with them, while an international visitor might choose to fly their luggage by helicopter to the hut. It’s the same product but how they experience it is different and the price point is different.’’
Some in the tourism industry have questioned whether TNZ’s international marketing smarts, which spawned the 100 per cent Pure campaign, will work for domestic purposes.
But Davis is confident the agency is the right one to lead the marketing push, rather than handing large sums to the 30 regional tourism organisations and have them all scrambling for the same pool of domestic business.
‘‘It can’t just be a free for all.’’ He said there needed to be a carefully co-ordinated approach to promotions, especially since some were less enthusiastic about an influx of visitors under Covid-19.
‘‘People in tourism want visitors, but if they price themselves out of the market, they simply won’t have that.’’ Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis