NZ's chocolate-box images prove tempting to tourists

They are images many New Zealanders are familiar with: snowy mountains, crystal-clear lakes, tattooed Maori and gliding waka.

While debate continues over whether they are the right images New Zealand should be thrusting at the world, Tourism New Zealand insists they are working. In the year ended June, nearly 1.7 million visitors jumped on a plane for Aotearoa - a 10 per cent increase over the previous year.

It is indeed a victory for the organisation thrust in the spotlight two years ago when, under its previous guise as the Tourism Board, it clashed very publicly with its then political masters.

Eighteen months on from what tourist operators refer to as "The Troubles," a new Government is in place and is already making its presence felt. It has reversed National's decision to implement user-pays for border control, and has set up a clearing house for research and forecasting.

A study into ways more tourism jobs can be created for Maori is expected to be completed by November, and by March a nine-member taskforce, including industry, Maori, central Government and local government representatives, is expected to have come up with a strategy for the industry for the next decade.

The taskforce has been hailed as a possible model for other sectors of the economy, and comes after years of lobbying by the industry. It will be chaired by Sky City managing director Evan Davies and while it will consider possible restructuring, Davies, for one, will not be arguing for radical change.

"From my personal perspective, I think we should be looking to go forward and build on what we've got, rather than doing a navel-gazing exercise where we say, 'Let's start again with a clean sheet of paper'."

For its part, Tourism NZ intends to use the taskforce to argue for more money. The organisation's annual budget has been set at $55 million for five years now. Just over $20 million of that is being spent on the "100% Pure" campaign and chief executive George Hickton is making no secret of the fact he wants to spend more in traditional markets such as the United States, as well as emerging markets such as China, South America and India.

"We've signalled to the industry and the Government that the amount of funding the Government puts into international marketing needs to be reviewed," he says.

"It hasn't been reviewed for five years now and in that time there has been an almost 25 to 30 per cent reduction in spending capacity, with the exchange rate falling and media costs increasing."

Former Lion Nathan and Auckland Healthcare head Dennis Pickup now heads the country's largest tourism company, Tourism Holdings. He is sceptical as to whether Tourism NZ can yet argue that more money will make a difference, but his own beef is that there needs to be better communication, not just between the industry and the Government, but also between various arms of the Government, so that opportunities are not missed.

Although Mr Pickup is reluctant to elaborate, others in the industry point to a lack of coordination over issues such as attracting major events. It is rumoured, for example, that New Zealand nearly missed out on hosting one of the world's highest-profile outdoor races, the Eco-Challenge, next year, because of a lack of communication between various agencies.

Inspired by New Zealand's Coast-to-Coast race, the Eco-Challenge began in the United States in 1992 and has a large international following through its partnership with the Discovery Channel.

More than 1000 people are expected to take part in next year's event, and more than 100 million people are expected to watch it on television.

Others believe Tourism NZ has not received enough credit for the work it has done over the past two years.

Keith Johnston is one of two new board members announced this week. A 46-year veteran of the industry, Johnston heads ID Tours and Southern World Vacations, one of the country's largest New Zealand-owned inbound tourist companies.

He is enthusiastic about the "100% Pure" campaign, believing the industry suffered badly under the old regime.

"If you don't maintain your profile and presence in the quality markets, suddenly people forget about you. New Zealand's presence is starting to be noticed again and it's finally coming right," he suggests.

Not that the Prime Minister is letting Tourism NZ off that lightly. Last week, at the industry's annual conference in Wellington, Helen Clark took a swipe at the "100% Pure" campaign, suggesting its chocolate-box images were not doing the country justice.

A clearly frustrated Mr Hickton maintains that the campaign is flexible enough to accommodate such criticism. But he also stresses that New Zealand cannot afford to play away from its strengths.

"We've had something like 60 years of product advertising showing our green fields. That's what people come here for," he argues. "If we go out and try and advertise all these other little bits and pieces we are going to look like an absolute hotch-potch."

A more vexing question facing the new taskforce, however, is likely to be the issue of domestic tourism. In Opposition, Labour promised to look at ways domestic tourism could be boosted.

The last time public money was spent on a national campaign to persuade New Zealanders to holiday at home was when Labour was last in power, in the mid-80s. While many still remember the "Don't Leave Home 'Til You've Seen the Country" catchline, there is considerable doubt in the industry as to whether such campaigns actually work.

Tourism Coromandel chief executive Jim Archibald is one who argues that most national domestic campaigns have been a waste of money.

"I don't think you would find any regional tourism organisations such as ours who would be in favour of a national domestic campaign," he says.

The Government is determined, however, to be seen doing something, not least because it has promised more regional development. It can also argue that boosting domestic tourism is good for the economy. While overseas tourists do indeed bring in valuable foreign exchange, it is also true that New Zealanders holidaying overseas erode some of that value by handing over their own hard-earned cash to foreigners.

Across the Tasman, the Government has recently launched a $A16 million ($21 million) campaign to increase domestic tourism on the back of research which showed it contributed $A45 billion to the Australian economy last year.

A similar study being carried out by Forsyte Research in New Zealand has shown that local tourists are at least as important to the economy as international tourists, with an estimated direct economic impact of $6.9 billion.

Tourism NZ has made it clear it does not want any of its budget siphoned off for domestic tourism and Mr Davies believes he speaks for many when he insists that it is local government that should be examining its role.

"One of the real issues for the industry is to ensure that local government understands the contribution of tourism in their areas of responsibility. On the whole, my view is they don't," he says.

Mr Archibald could not agree more. It is much easier for councils to spend money on roads because they can see exactly where the money goes, he says. In fact, he argues, spending on marketing can be just as valuable.

"[Politicians] have great difficulty in making that leap. Yet the growth in tourism on the Coromandel just this year would be generating income in the local economy equivalent to another Toyota factory."

Hence the effort the industry is making to demonstrate the impact tourism has on the economy, and persuade the Government of the importance of research.

Two years ago, Statistics NZ began measuring the economic impact of the industry as part of the national accounts.

Using 1995 figures, it concluded that tourism was the country's single-largest export earner, contributed 8 per cent of gross domestic product, was responsible for one in every 12 jobs and contributed nearly half a billion dollars in GST and nearly $1 billion in indirect taxes.

It is frustrating, Mr Archibald says, to have to spend valuable funds on proving your worth, rather than attracting tourists, but such is the path the industry must take if it is to be taken seriously.

"In spite of the fiasco last year, there is growing recognition that tourism is a serious player now."

Mr Davies is also optimistic. "I think simply the economic impact that tourism has on the nation as a whole means that it must be recognised in terms of its significance.

The Prime Minister clearly does, so this Government does, and I think we saw the beginning of it in the previous Government also. All that is very encouraging, but I'm not sure the community more broadly sees it that way, so we need to ensure that message is spread more widely."

The real campaign, it seems, may have just begun.