Tourism New Zealand chief executive Kevin Bowler is positive about the industry's future, but says the sector needs to adapt to changing markets.
Addressing national and international media at the Trenz tourism expo in Queenstown, Bowler said increasing airlinks and rising visitor arrivals from Asia meant New Zealand's industry and individual
operators needed to look at how to cater to those guests.
"New Zealand is very good at serving the needs of its traditional markets such as the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, but now we need to do the same for the Chinese, southeast Asian and Indian markets."
Surveys of outbound visitors from these markets show the information is there for them, but there is definite room for improvement when it comes to making sure they have access to it, in their languages, to provide better visitor experiences.
Areas identified include food, service and translation.
"Visitors definitely want to understand New Zealand cuisine, but they also want better access to their own local food - particularly at breakfast time."
Bowler said many tourists from these regions were well-travelled and had high service expectations that New Zealand operators were not necessarily meeting.
"The old 'she'll be right'? Well, she won't be right. We need to step it up."
But he said there was still a strong focus on more traditional markets, including Australia, where New Zealand is facing significant challenges because of the strong Australian dollar.
"That is a challenge. Many Australians think they have a small window where it is going to be affordable for them to travel to longer-haul destinations. But this is not a challenge we cannot overcome."
In a response to a question about how last week's Budget would affect Tourism New Zealand's work promoting the country, Bowler said the organisation was looking to make savings in its "back office" services. "We will have less money, but we want to minimise the effect of this on our marketing."
