Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Minister for Tourism Louise Upston announced the removal of requirements for documents to have their translations certified while attending major trade show Trenz in Rotorua.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Minister for Tourism Louise Upston announced the removal of requirements for documents to have their translations certified while attending major trade show Trenz in Rotorua.
The tourism industry is hoping a big push to attract Chinese visitors will help bring that market back to its pre-Covid levels.
The announcement was made at major trade show Trenz which got under way in Rotorua on Wednesday, as tourism operators and industry players shared their vision for the future with 340 potential buyers from 26 different countries all vying to see what New Zealand has to offer.
Speaking at Trenz Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said New Zealand had seen an increase in the number of applications for visitor visas in the past year, which was “really encouraging”.
Luxon is hoping to visit China this year with a big focus on conveying that New Zealand is the travel destination of choice.
Chinese tourists are still struggling to return to their pre-2019 levels, with visitor numbers currently sitting around 60%.
Rotorua hosted the major trade show Trenz this year, which is held at the Energy Events Centre. Photo / Laura Smith
Tourism worth billions
Tourism Industry Association chief executive Rebecca Ingram said there were 67 travel buyers attending Trenz from wider China, and the opportunity to build connections with those in attendance was unparalleled.
Tourism was worth $44 billion to New Zealand in the year to March 2024, equating to $121 million per day.
Thanks to the event, Ingram expects upwards of 14% of attendees to generate more than $1m worth of turnover from attending.
“It’s very influential and those tourism businesses that have come in really strongly, that have done a lot of work to be here, they’ve created a lot of connections before they’ve even walked in the door.
“So these conversations that they’re having are really impactful and meaningful, and can turn up as business,” Ingram said.
“Tourism is a global business. We represent about 0.2% of all global travel and 0.4% of the value of tourism. When you think about the potential to go on holiday, you’ve probably got lots of destinations in your mind, and so we have to work really hard to make sure that one of those destinations is New Zealand.”
Getting travel buyers on board
Tourism New Zealand chief executive René de Monchy said Trenz had become important because of how far away New Zealand is from other tourist destinations.
“For a lot of people, it is a trip of a lifetime. They come for quite a long time, they spend quite a lot of money. They need an expert to help them make that booking, and that’s what this week is about, making sure that we bring the people that are selling New Zealand, in China, in the US, in Australia, in the UK, in India.
“That’s really important because for most of the world, in parts of the world, certainly, if you look at a market like Germany, more than three-quarters of travel is converted through these intermediaries.
“So they’ve got to be up to date, they’ve got to know what the new products are, they’ve got to be able to sell New Zealand, upsell New Zealand, try and convince people to come longer.”
He explained that while marketing initiatives can play their part in attracting visitors to the country, like the recently popular collaboration between Minecraft and Tourism NZ, making the process as frictionless as possible is going to be key.
De Monchy also acknowledged the importance of building visitor numbers in New Zealand’s tourism off-season.
During the winter months, tourist numbers notoriously drop despite the diverse range of tourism operators and opportunities that continue to operate year-round.
He said that “debunking the myths” about those activities, and tapping into evolving consumer trends will be pivotal to reigniting the period.
The re-emergence of conferences in New Zealand, particularly once Auckland’s International Convention Centre is officially open, is key, with 83% of them occurring outside of the summer months.
Another aspect he feels New Zealand needs to continue to leverage is its 100% Pure New Zealand marketing.
The campaign, which has now been around for 25 years, is something de Monchy believes has evolved from its initial proposition about New Zealand’s environment.
“100% Pure New Zealand is 25 years young as a campaigner. What it allows us, first and foremost, is its amazing legacy of consistency. The first job of marketing is to get noticed, and having a multibillion-dollar asset like 100% Pure New Zealand gets you noticed quicker.
“The second is that people fundamentally come here first and foremost for nature and the variety of scenery that we have. So it’s hugely important to preserve that in everything that we do, because that is the primary reason that people come here.”
He believes the campaign has evolved to encompass the whole New Zealand experience, from the culture to predominantly how visitors interact with tourism operators and the people representing them.
As for the highlight of Trenz, de Monchy said that the overwhelming sense of optimism from the industry is a positive sign.
“They’re still an overwhelmingly optimistic, entrepreneurial bunch of people and operators, which is what makes us such a great sector.”
Echoing the sentiment of de Monchy, Ingram expressed her support for Upston and the Government’s initiative to remove translation certification barriers.
“When she took over the portfolio, she had a large number of meetings right off the bat, and she said, what are the sorts of things I could be doing to support the industry?”
“Today’s announcement that they’re going to remove that requirement, It’s fantastic news and I think you could see that there was a round of applause in the room. That’s the Government taking really practical steps to support the industry to turn up really positively.”
Moving forward, Ingram referred to the industry strategy called Tourism 2050 and it’s 10 initiatives for the future.
One area of particular importance she highlighted was regarding education, and her aim to having tourism achievement standards included as part of NCEA.
“I would really like tourism to be positively represented in our schools for our kids who are thinking about going to university and being able to see a pathway for tourism for themselves, because the tourism industry in terms of a career is incredibly diverse.”
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.
