Government pitches sales at 'ideal visitor'

By SIMON HENDERY tourism writer

The Government marketing agency Tourism New Zealand is fine-tuning its sales pitch to focus on a group of international travellers it has identified as "ideal visitors".

The move to focus its marketing efforts on wealthy, experienced travellers is part of an industry-wide push to increase yields as tourism numbers grow.

Short-term visitor arrivals reached a record two million in the 12 months to the end of last November and although numbers are forecast to continue to rise, operators believe future growth will come from increasing tourists' average spend.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said there was no intention to change the three-year-old "100 per cent Pure New Zealand" campaign.

But it was increasingly being focused on the 5 to 8 per cent of the population in target countries who could afford to - and were interested in - travelling here.

The "ideal travellers" Tourism New Zealand was targeting were high-income earners aged either between 25 and 34 or 50 and 64 who were well travelled and were seeking an "authentic" experience in New Zealand.

A key means of reaching the target market was through the international Discovery Channel Networks.

Tourism New Zealand, which has developed a relationship with Discovery over several years, said yesterday it had signed a sponsorship deal with Discovery Networks Asia which would result in comprehensive coverage of New Zealand on the broadcaster's channels across Asia, the Pacific, the US and Germany.

Discovery Networks Asia reaches more than 68 million subscribers speaking seven languages across Asia and the Pacific Rim.

Tourism New Zealand's general manager marketing, Ian Macfarlane, said the agency's marketing efforts were now benefiting from the bank of research and industry feedback it had built up during the life of the 100 per cent Pure campaign.

Results of the campaign had included an increase in the number of Australians who said they intended to make New Zealand their next travel destination from 10.2 per cent in 2000 to 12.3 per cent last year.