Celebrity blitzkrieg before World Cup

To make the most of Cricket World Cup 2015, Tourism New Zealand will stage a number of events, including celebrity endorsement.

After its biggest Kiwi Link 2014 programme so far – with four cities, 33 suppliers and 200 delegates – Tourism New Zealand is getting ready to stage a whole bunch of events in India in the run-up of the World Cup.

David Craig, its GM (Asia), says, “It is a big opportunity for us. We are making sure that there’s a legacy from the ICC Cricket World Cup. While we are interested in those who will travel for the event, a bigger opportunity probably is the audience who will be watching it from their homes and see New Zealand.”

For this, the tourism board will be working with celebrities and opinion leaders, both in the cricket field as well as entertain- ment, to tell the story of New Zealand. “Celebrity endorsements can be very powerful in a lot of markets.

This includes the single visa under a new TransTasman Visa Arrangement dual visa with Australia,” Craig revealed. A 10-week window will apply to the Trans-Tasman Visa Agreement for the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Over this period, New Zealand will grant a three- month visitor VoA to those who already hold an Australian visa. This will make it easier for cricket fans to follow their team in both countries. The tourism board is working with the official travel agencies to put together specific packages. “There will ongoing workshops and training for them in the run-up for CWC. Our focus cities include Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad,” he adds.

Without revealing figures, Craig says that the board has increased its investment in India by more than 30 per cent over the last year, which saw an increase as well. The India office has a four- member team since September 2013 which is working on a three-year plan. Tourism New Zealand has seen strong growth of 14.3% for the year ended July 2014 from India with 34,208 arrivals of which 16,256 were leisure travellers.