Tour chiefs plan counter-attack

By SIMON HENDERY

Tourism leaders meet in Auckland today as the industry works on a battle plan to counter an expected slump following the terrorist attacks in America and Air New Zealand's financial woes.

Tour operators are reporting cancellations from Americans afraid to fly and travellers stung by the collapse of Air New Zealand subsidiary Ansett.

But many in the industry remain optimistic that New Zealand can stem a drop in tourism growth by selling the country as a safe haven destination.

Don Gunn, the president of the Inbound Tourism Operators Council, and director of General Travel, said that although his firm had experienced some cancellations from the US "there are still a lot on the books [for next month] which we hope will stay. We're remaining reasonably positive".

Of 160 bookings General Travel was dealing with out of Honolulu next month, only two had so far been cancelled , Mr Gunn said.

An Ansett-booked European tour group had cancelled an Australasian holiday because securing new flights on Qantas would have been more expensive.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton was in Australia yesterday discussing the past week's developments with Tourism New Zealand staff in that country.

He will be in Auckland tomorrow for a meeting with Air New Zealand and other major tourism industry players.

Mr Gunn said it was vital that New Zealand did not lose the $70-plus million Air New Zealand spends on destination marketing about $15 million more than Tourism New Zealand's total budget.

"Our real concern is that with that spend reduced or taken out of the picture, it would have a serious impact on promoting New Zealand as a destination."

Geoff Burns, who chairs the Tourism Industry Association and is also a senior Air New Zealand manager, said that although the American terrorist attacks posed a risk to long-haul markets into New Zealand, they also presented opportunities to increase market share in Asia, Japan and even the US as travellers sought perceived safe destinations.

But Mr Burns warned that other countries such as Canada and South Africa would also be boosting their "safe" destination status through increased marketing.

Peter Lowry, chief executive of the Inbound and Outbound Tourism Operators Councils and the Travel Agents Association, said that "during this volatile time the most important thing is to keep stability and consumer confidence".

"The key is Government coming out strongly.

"They've already come out and said they support Air New Zealand," said Mr Lowry, "but we want them to come out much stronger."