04 August 2009

Kiwis tempt the relatives Down Under

WELLINGTON Ã¢â¬' More than 30,000 curious Kiwis have visited the website for The Great Kiwi Invite' a new tourism campaign.

The Great Kiwi Invite campaign calls on all New Zealanders to support the tourism industry and become ambassadors for their country.

The campaign is a Tourism New Zealand initiative encouraging New Zealanders to get in touch with friends and family overseas and invite them over for a visit, with an added incentive of the chance to win return Air New Zealand flights

Kiwis have been quick to sign-in to the website and send invitations.

By Monday evening - only three days after the campaign website went live - 10,000 Kiwis had registered to send invites to their friends and family and 3,500 of these invitations had been accepted.

"This campaign is about using one of our best assets, good old fashioned Kiwi hospitality, to help New ZealandÃ¢â¬â¢s economy in these tougher times," says George Hickton, Tourism New Zealand chief executive.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœItÃ¢â¬â¢s the 10 year anniversary of the launch of the 100% Pure New Zealand marketing campaign.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœItÃ¢â¬â¢s been a very successful campaign and weÃ¢â¬â¢ve seen some tremendous benefits for New Zealand, but the global economic situation has meant that fewer people are travelling worldwide.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœNow weÃ¢â¬â¢re asking Kiwis to get back in touch with friends and family overseas, get them down here and help out.Ã¢â¬~

To take part, New Zealanders need to go online at www.thegreatkiwiinvite.co.nz to personalise an invitation that they then send to their friends and family overseas.

When that person accepts the invitation, they go into a draw to win a return trip for two to New Zealand, courtesy of Air New Zealand.

In the year ended June 2009 there were almost three-quarter of a million visitors in New Zealand whoÃ¢â¬â¢d come to see their friends and family, up by 3.6 percent on the previous year.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœThis shows that despite the economic situation, people will still travel to visit their friends and relatives,Ã¢â¬~ Hickton said.

Check out - www.thegreatkiwiinvite.co.nz