Fear NZ may price itself off map
Tourism boss warns that visitors will avoid Godzone if they decide it’s too expensive
Tourism New Zealand boss Stephen England-Hall says the booming industry needs to be careful that visiting here doesn't get too expensive. He has been in the top job for a year and while surveys show growth in visitor satisfaction, on the ground costs are a threat. Food, petrol and accommodation prices were perceived as being high but that was not putting visitors off — yet.
“If New Zealand got too expensive we would see a decline in visitor numbers and a demand drop-off. You would assume that pricing has not reached a point of no return yet but it is something we are very mindful of,'' England-Hall said.
Research showed as a destination for the average free, independent traveller from Japan who went to Australia and New Zealand, this country was twice as expensive.
“That is a lot, that's something that we have keep an eye on — there's a value for money question there.''
Visitors would be prepared to pay to visit world-class scenic attractions such as Milford Sound.
“But if you hike the price of a onebedroom three-star motel up $100 they would resist that,'' he said.
Last year international visitor spending reached a record $10.6 billion, largely driven by an increase in tourists from the United States. That was up 5 per cent on the year before.
Spending by US visitors was up 18 per cent to $1.3b, probably due to the start of direct flights between Houston and Auckland. Australia and China remain the biggest markets, with Australians spending $2.6b and Chinese $1.5b.
England-Hall said the increasing wide dispersal of visitors was good for the regions.
“We've got great numbers and spending at a top-line level.''
The well-documented pressure on infrastructure was a result not only of international visitor numbers but more Kiwis taking domestic holidays and population growth.
But the problem needed a coordinated approach, he said.
“The key beneficiary of tourism is generally central government and the key cost bearer of providing facilities for tourism tends to be local government — this mismatch of cost and benefit is the core issue for tourism.”
Tourism NZ gets about $117 million a year from the Government to promote this country overseas.
England-Hall said officials and cabinet ministers were well aware of the issues facing the industry.
His organisation wanted to provide more detailed information about what visitors did in New Zealand to feed into that planning.
Tourism New Zealand was not pinning too much hope on a big spinoff from the private two-day visit of former US President Barack Obama, who played golf at scenic courses.
“How that translates into bookings or attendance or volume will take some time to come through. I would argue that the core golf strategy and the work we do on marketing and key golf events will have a bigger impact on numbers than celebrity engagement.
“If it delivers unanticipated benefits we should be happy about that.''
New Zealand was competing against more countries for visitors as airline networks expanded and travellers researched them online.
Besides old rival Australia, other countries such as Argentina, Costa Rica, Nordic nations, Switzerland and Ireland offered great scenery but were closer to big population centres.
“We have to ask what more we can add to our story to remain a preferred destination for high-value visitors.''