Tourism NZ catches ride with Jetstar

Jetstar has started an in-flight iPad entertainment system. Photo / Supplied

A $9 million marketing deal with low-fare airline Jetstar could generate a tenfold boost in visitor spending, says Tourism New Zealand.

In a three-year agreement, Government marketing agency Tourism New Zealand and Jetstar will each contribute $1.5 million a year to a range of campaigns and print, online, television and social media activities.

Justin Watson, Tourism New Zealand general manager of marketing and communications, said the organisation had a number of similar deals, which had been a new concept during the past 18 months.

"Part of our change in strategy is to say we want to do more commercial partnerships with the airlines and travel providers to not only get a greater effectiveness of speed but also to give more choice to potential visitors," Watson said.

"We know there are a lot of people out there that are aware of New Zealand and find it appealing so our opportunity is to convert that appeal into action and so bringing partners, say airlines, actually gets you closer to the decision point."

Such marketing activity returned about $10 of visitor spending for every dollar spent, meaning the total $9 million investment over the three years could return $90 million, Watson said.

Jetstar said the deal marked the largest push by the company in the New Zealand market and was the first formal marketing partnership between itself and Tourism New Zealand.

The company will increase New Zealand destination content on its website to support the partnership and the marketing drive will focus on encouraging holidaymakers to visit New Zealand on Jetstar's direct Auckland-Singapore services, transtasman flights and services from Japan, via the Gold Coast in Australia.

Jetstar Group chief executive Bruce Buchanan said the launch of Jetstar Japan next year would put New Zealand within reach of millions more holidaymakers.

Jetstar currently spent about A$5 million ($6.5 million) promoting New Zealand to overseas travellers, he said.

"The umbrella partnership is more than just the $9 million, it's about a framework to work together on so many different fronts," he said.

"We've got 400,000 passengers coming into New Zealand now.

"I'd love to see that continue to grow at close to 10 per cent per annum over the next few years."

Jetstar expected to introduce the Boeing 787 Dreamliner on its existing Singapore-Auckland route when it takes delivery of the new aircraft type in 2013, he said.

The Jetstar fleet comprises 86 aircraft and the airline has ordered 170 new planes for delivery over the next seven years.

Meanwhile, Jetstar said it would roll out Apple iPads on board, becoming the first airline to offer tailored technology for the device.

The first Jetstar flight with iPads on board left Auckland yesterday.

The technology allows passengers to view latest-release movies, TV shows and music and a line-up of the latest generation games, e-magazines and e-books.

Buchanan said the iPad system would be fully deployed across the network by December,

People can either book to use the iPads before they travel or pay on board at a cost of $10 for short-haul and $15 for long-haul flights.

Buchanan said the iPad system had cost millions of dollars to develop and introduce but was more cost-effective than traditional in-flight entertainment.

- Additional reporting: APNZ