Older, richer? It’s time to shine
February and March are traditionally when overseas visitors turbocharge the New Zealand tourism industry. With school back in and most Kiwis back at work, that’s when overseas tourists traditionally more than fill the gap and it’s when businesses start to make some real money.
While the effects of the pandemic were just starting to be felt in February-March last year, this year will be the first year the near-total absence of international visitors threatens to turn bottomlines ugly. Some tourism operators have already folded and more tourism businesses which have clung on for the past year may join them.
A late summer domestic surge is required after what early feedback to Tourism Industry Aotearoa suggests has been a lumpy Christmas-New Year period for operators. The traditional Kiwi summer holiday beach and lake hotspots have done well with visitor numbers equal or greater than usual.
But parts of the country where New Zealanders don’t traditionally go over Christmas/ New Year — such as Fiordland and Westland — have struggled. The main centres have been quiet with no international visitors, and residents escaping to their baches.
Despite the contribution of
Kiwi holiday-makers, there is no making up for the loss of international visitors, who last summer spent more than $3 billion during December and January. Tourism operators are looking anxiously ahead to what will happen when schools go back. The number of Kiwis on holiday is reducing and will drop off significantly after Waitangi weekend.
The onus is also on tourism operators to stimulate the market. They must come to the party with pricing and packages to suit older, and in some cases cautious and cannily parsimonious, Kiwi travellers. This age group is already targeted by luxury cruise and overseas tour offers for future international travel, so the race is on for their wallets.
Older Kiwis have already done their bit. During last year’s lockdowns they, with nearly all New Zealanders, followed the rules. It was largely out of concern for more vulnerable, older people that the stringent, and so far highly successful, “go early and go hard” strategy was implemented. But the younger population has also borne the economic brunt of the pandemic. Not every baby boomer can afford to splurge on domestic travel. But among them is a large rump who are asset-rich and cash-rich.
These are the people who need to go out and splurge during February and March and do their bit for New Zealand tourism whose economic value reaches deep into the regions. By spending up large these older Kiwis could just help preserve the jobs of their grandkids.