Video calls poised to curb travel

Questions have been raised about whether trans-Tasman business trips to Auckland will return to previous levels following the introduction of the managed isolation-free travel bubble on April 19.

Auckland had the lions’ share of trans-Tasman business travel prior to the Covid-19-prompted border closures a year ago, with a 73 per cent share of all business trips to New Zealand.

Business travel into Auckland from Australia accounted for 20 per cent of all trans-Tasman arrivals into the city in 2019, but that could change.

‘‘So many people now have got used to the cost savings and benefits of Zoom [online video] meetings,’’ said Professor Simon Milne, the director of AUT’s New Zealand Tourism Research Institute. The Auckland Business Chamber believed some professional travel would continue, but others, including some of its own, would be replaced by video meetings, increasingly used during Covid-19 restrictions.

‘‘We have all learned to do involve travel where you are discussing innovation and sharing and challenging ideas, that’s when you fronted up,’’ said Barnett. Milne believed the early wave of resumed trans-Tasman travel to Auckland would be those visiting friends and relatives (VFR), which made up nearly half of all Australian arrivals to Auckland in 2018.

He said that was already reflected in early advertising campaigns for travel to Australia.

‘‘If you look at the Gold Coast campaign that’s been running for a while in New Zealand, that’s all about seeing family and cousins, and similar things,’’ Milne said.

‘‘They are the least likely to be put off by risk, they’ve got the strongest urge to see grandkids and whatever.’’

‘‘So many people now have got used to the cost savings and benefits of Zoom meetings.’’

Professor Simon Milne