Upbeat coverage of bubble worth ‘in excess of’ $10m
International media coverage featuring emotional scenes of loved ones reuniting when the transTasman bubble opened on Monday has generated ‘‘well in excess of’’ $10 million in value for New Zealand, Tourism New Zealand says.
The tourism marketing agency’s chief executive, Rene´ de Monchy, said it had been monitoring media coverage and saw positive stories about the trans-tasman bubble had been featured prominently by major international outlets including Forbes, Time, CNN and the BBC.
The value of that exposure in the first 24 hours was worth about $10m if Tourism NZ were to spend the equivalent in marketing costs, he said. Now, five days into the bubble opening, the value was ‘‘well in excess’’ of that, he said.
‘‘That’s what we’ve tracked about the story of New Zealand opening.’’
Images of people reconnecting with loved ones had ‘‘touched on the heartstrings’’ of people around the world during what had been a difficult period, he said.
The BBC’S coverage described the bubble as a ‘‘joyful occasion’’ for reunited families and friends and ‘‘a huge moment’’ for airlines.
A Time headline read: ‘‘An
Australia-new Zealand Travel Bubble Brings Relief and Elation’’.
Shortly after the bubble was announced, Tourism NZ estimated the economy would receive a $1 billion injection in 2021 from the transTasman bubble, with about 800,000 Australians actively considering a visit to New Zealand in the first six months of the border opening.
Customs figures show just 124 people arrived in New Zealand from international flights on Sunday.
When the bubble opened on Monday, that number increased to 4529 quarantine-free travellers. Quarantine-free arrivals from Australia were 4392 on Tuesday, 1975 on Wednesday and 3694 on Thursday.
De Monchy said that, as predicted, the first wave of travellers was largely made up of those wanting to reconnect with family and friends. Potential holidaymakers would probably look to see how the bubble went before planning travel.
Tourism NZ had seen growth in the number of people searching New Zealand destinations on Google and an increase in visitor traffic to newzealand.com from Australia.
Over the past year the agency had continued to promote New Zealand in Australia to encourage people to keep dreaming, de Monchy said. ‘‘You can now see that they are starting to turn that dream into a bit of action.’’
The bubble opening missed the Australian school holidays, but a surge in arrivals was expected for the ski season from June and July.
Over the coming weeks Tourism NZ would launch a ‘‘major campaign’’ to encourage Australians to holiday in New Zealand, he said.