KEY POINTS:
The level of satisfaction experienced by international tourists using domestic airlines in New Zealand has dropped, according to a Ministry of Tourism survey.
Overseas visitors are now less satisfied with domestic airlines than New Zealanders are.
The Regional Visitor Monitor provides quarterly snapshots of visitors, profiling their motivations
and expectations, travel planning, satisfaction levels and expenditure through a survey of 1200 tourists spread throughout six of the largest tourist regions.
The June quarter report released yesterday shows international visitor satisfaction levels for scheduled domestic flights have dropped from a rating of 8.2 out of 10 in December 2006 to 7.7 in June. Domestic satisfaction levels have stayed constant at a rating of 7.8 since the question was first put to visitors in September 2006.
Tourism Ministry research head Bruce Bassett said the figures for the survey were "pretty stable" and it was unusual to see a steady decline.
"I would certainly be keeping an eye on it if I were an airline service," he added.
But the drop-off has failed to strike a chord with domestic air service providers.
An Air New Zealand spokesman said the survey bucked its own research trends.
"Air New Zealand's own extensive customer research, which has been ongoing for many years, shows a completely different trend. International customers are more satisfied than ever with our domestic service.
"Compared with August last year international customer satisfaction is up more than 10 percentage points."
A spokeswoman for Qantas said it would consider the results of the survey carefully.
"However, we have not noticed any decline in customer satisfaction with regards to our inflight product and service."
She said Qantas had spent millions since November last year. It had introduced online check-in services and extras including complimentary newspapers, bar services and menu items as well as a $3 million upgrade to its club lounges in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.
Pacific Blue spokesman Phil Boeyen said the survey was not as relevant for the airline because it had only began operating in New Zealand in November.
"[It's] not of concern specifically for us. ... the survey only applies to us for a short period and does not reflect our own tracking."
Fun and safety first for most tourists
The Regional Visitor Monitor is taking environmentally sustainable tourism into account for the first time.
It shows there is only a moderate demand for sustainable tourism products and services and few respondents put environmentally-friendly behaviour before other considerations - such as having fun or enjoying something new or different.
Only 12 per cent put environmentally friendly in the top three most important factors for travel but 57 per cent rated it important.
Tourism Ministry research head Bruce Bassett said it's important to realise some of the other factors were basic requirements, such as feeling safe and secure.
"The feeling is there is awareness but people will look after basic needs first."
Sustainability was the main focus of the Tourism Strategy 2015, launched last year by the Government and Tourism Industry Association.