NZ faces formidable rival in Chilean sleeping giant

By MIKE SMITH

Traditionally, New Zealanders keep a close, almost fanatical, eye on competition with their cousins across the Tasman.

But for many in business the real competition is now coming from across the Pacific, in Chile.

Although competition has been keen in sectors such as dairy, horticulture and forestry, New Zealand has had the edge on Chile as a tourism destination.

That could be about to change as Chile re-assesses tourism in the wake of the September 11 attacks in the United States.

Tourist leaders are suggesting Chile may be seen as a haven compared with many Northern Hemisphere destinations. A similar number of tourists visit Chile and New Zealand, but there are significant differences in the spread of visitors.

The latest statistics available show that of the 1.6 million visitors to Chile in 1999, more than 70 per cent came from neighbouring South American countries. Of these, 50 per cent came over the Andes from Argentina.

This differs from New Zealand, where 40 per cent of tourists come from the Oceania region and a third from Australia. But the differences are starker in the spread of visitors from outside our immediate region.

For example, New Zealand has more visitors a year from North America than Chile - 220,000 in 1999 and 240,000 in 2001 compared with 160,000 in 1999.

Visitors to Chile from the US represent just 10 per cent of the total visitor numbers - the same proportion as New Zealand, even though we are on a different continent and much further away.

New Zealand even outstrips Chile in the number of Europeans visiting, again even though we are another half a world away. European visitors here grew from 300,000 in 1999 to over 380,000 this year compared with the 214,000 Europeans going to Chile.

New Zealand gets 11 per cent of its visitors from the old country, Britain, but similarly, only 2 per cent of Chile's visitors come from Spain, less than the 3 per cent for Germany, the leading European tourist generator.

But the disparity between the tourism industries in the two countries is in the key Asian market, which accounts for only 1.25 per cent of visitors (just over 20,000) for Chile but 25 to 30 per cent for New Zealand (400,000 to 475,000).

However, there are similarities in that a National Tourism Service study has found Europeans are attracted to Chile by the natural landscape, the culture and the exotic environment. Many are drawn to its southern region of lakes and fiords, which are not unlike New Zealand's southern lakes and Fiordland region.

But can Chile compete as a realistic tourist destination in the wake of September 11? Tourist manager Edward Behrmann, writing a column in the El Diario newspaper, questions whether Chile makes the grade as a tourist destination.

"Our favourable geography, with a variety of landscapes to the north, centre and south, cannot be converted overnight to receive tourists who will be wanting first-class service, particularly those from North America, Europe and Asia."

Mr Behrmann says Chile faces three major problems in trying to boost tourism: the National Tourism Service (Sernatur) is under-financed; the $US650,000 ($1.52 million) a year provided by the state for promotion abroad is not enough compared with other countries; and the infrastructure on offer for tourists, apart from the new Santiago Airport, is under-developed.

Five-star hotels are scarce, and improvements are needed in the movement of tourists and their baggage.

Information services, restaurants, hotels, museums and national park facilities all offer only middling service.

But Mr Behrmann says the authorities must be careful to avoid saying one thing and doing another.

"On the one hand they say the tourist industry is vital, but the facts demonstrate the opposite."

Now that a push is on to promote Chile as a safe destination, authorities must take action to improve the industry's standing.

But, as tourist promoters are aware, it is not as simple as that. Chile does have beautiful landscapes. Many skiers, for example, love being able to go from Santiago to the mountains for a day's skiing during winter.

However, there are some perception problems that may be difficult to overcome.

Among these is the aftermath of the oppressive regime of General Augusto Pinochet and an increasingly defiant campaign by the native Mapuche people.

Chile now has a democratically elected Government, but the scars of the Pinochet era are proving difficult to heal.

This was demonstrated recently when a disgruntled Communist Party faction member set himself on fire in front of the Presidential Palace in protest over crimes against the poor and globalisation.

On another front, the indigenous Mapuche, who were deprived of their land during colonisation have been reasserting their identity by, among other actions, occupying plantations owned by some of Chile's largest forestry companies.

But Chileans have demonstrated that they are a formidable force once they devise a plan for growth in a specific sector.

If business people like Mr Behrmann have their wish, Chile could very quickly start grabbing a bigger share of New Zealand's key tourism markets.