Fly Buys boss appointed chief executive of Tourism New Zealand

The new Tourism NZ chief executive Stephen England-Hall.

New Tourism New Zealand boss Stephen England-Hall says he's got a lot of learning and listening to do.

England-Hall has been chief executive of Loyalty New Zealand, which manages Fly Buys, for the past three years and is not going to be drawn on the big issues facing tourism.

He will start work at Tourism NZ in April and said he would discuss concerns about stressed tourist infrastructure and the organisation's 100% Pure pitch when he took up the job.

"From my point of view it's really all about listening and getting in touch with the industry and trying to understand what the challenges and concerns are. I think there is an opportunity to put my mark on it but you can't just jump in,'' said the 43-year-old.

England-Hall succeeds Kevin Bowler who resigned to take a job at Frucor. The top job at Tourism New Zealand attracted a salary of between $480,000 and $489,000 last year.

Papakura-born England-Hall worked previously for global social media and technology services company Syncapse where he led teams in London, Toronto and New York.

He spent his teenage years in Manawatu, studied at Victoria University and worked in this country, Britain and North America as a senior executive leading digital marketing, data and technology companies.

Government funding for Tourism New Zealand was $115 million. The organisation has a strong digital and social media push to market this country in key markets around the world.

Tourism is booming with more than 3.4 million visitors coming to New Zealand in the past year.

Tourism NZ chairwoman Kerry Prendergast said he would be stepping into the role at a time of significant growth.

England-Hall has also previously held the role of chief executive of Razorfish UK, part of Publicis Groupe and has also held management positions at DNA, EDS EMEA, BT Global Services and CA Technologies.

Razorfish is Tourism NZ's global media agency.

He also got an MBA from the University of Cambridge and remains an active member of the University of Cambridge Vice Chancellor's advisory board on Communications.

He is a founding member of the New Zealand Data Future Forum and Data Future Partnership.