Luring ‘f ly in and f lee’ Aussies

Australian tourists flying into Christchurch and driving away are the target of a new campaign aimed at promoting the city as a tourist hub.

Almost half New Zealand’s tourists are Australians, but Christchurch’s economic development and promotional agency, ChristchurchNZ, believes too many are bypassing the city and heading straight to locations such as Queenstown.

The organisation has launched a joint-venture marketing campaign called ‘‘It All Starts in Christchurch’’ suggesting visitors take a hub and spoke approach. They want tourists to stay for several days and use the city as a base to explore surrounding districts.

A video launched online as part of the campaign features a young couple taking trips to Hanmer Springs, Waipara vineyards, and Akaroa and Lyttelton harbours, as well as seeing the sights of Christchurch.

The campaign has been put together by Tourism New Zealand with input and funding from ChristchurchNZ, Christchurch Airport and airline Virgin Australia. It will run in eastern Australia – a major source of direct flights to the city.

Tim Loftus, of ChristchurchNZ, said international tourists staying in commercial accommodation stayed an average of 1.7 nights. ‘‘We want to let them know Christchurch is an incredible hub for exploration that they need to know more about. A big focus for us is to have international visitors stay extra nights.’’

He said plenty of tourists were expected this summer, so the campaign aimed to boost numbers for autumn – traditionally a quiet time for the industry.

Normally 15 per cent of visitors to New Zealand fly into Christchurch, and the campaign aims to boost that to 20 per cent.

Loftus said there had been discussion about widening the campaign later to other countries, but Australia was a major target because of the direct flights.

‘‘The big challenge we have is perception of Christchurch. Obviously we lost a lot of numbers in the past few years but they are coming back in droves and we want to make the best of it.’’

He said the concept of regional dispersal – spreading tourists into more regions – was being pushed as a way of easing pressure tourism points.

In the year to September, 260,944 Australian visitors flew into Christchurch, 20 per cent more than three years ago. Just over half were holidaying, with visiting friends and family the next biggest reason for coming, followed by business.

Together they spent an estimated $265 million in the city in the past year, an 8.4 per cent increase over three years.

ChristchurchNZ’s economic adviser, Calvin Scott, said the figures revealed how spending had not kept pace with rising tourist numbers, with each tourist to the city spending less.

Accommodation figures show occupancy rates in the city’s hotels averaged 76 per cent for the year to October, compared with over 80 per cent for Queenstown and Auckland.

Christchurch has gained 225 new hotel rooms in the past year, with 374 under construction, while Auckland had gained 460 in the same period and has 1016 under construction, according to real estate firm Colliers.

The latest Restaurant Association report shows the number of hospitality outlets in Canterbury increased to 2166 last year, a 5.1 per cent rise from the previous year.