Tourism NZ: The new view from the top

AUCKLAND – New Zealand has fared better than most with its international arrivals this year.

International travel worldwide is expected to decline by around five percent over the year, but the decrease in arrivals into New Zealand dropped by just one percent in the year to October.

“We’ve had a bumper year out of Australia and many of our smaller markets – including France, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, India and Italy – have remained in growth.

“New Zealand tourism has come out of the global downturn better than expected,” said Tim Hunter, acting chief executive, Tourism New Zealand

In January, Tourism New Zealand will have a new CEO for the first time in a decade when Kevin Bowler takes over at the helm, replacing George Hickton, who has stepped down after leading New Zealand’s highly successful 100% Pure NZ tourism promotion campaign.

With a background in marketing, fast moving consumer goods and online telecommunications, Bowler says he applied for the job because he’s passionate about New Zealand and because he wanted to do something beyond growing a company for profit.

Bowler said his No 1 priority is education.

“I’m new to tourism and I have a lot to learn about all aspects of the industry.

“I want to hear what we’re doing well and what we’re not doing so well and build a picture of what needs to happen.”

He says he is particularly keen to look at how the organisation can get in better touch with the industry.

He will also look carefully at the 100% Pure brand but says he has no plans to change it.

“What we are supporting is New Zealand and 100% Pure is a mechanism that supports that brand.

“That doesn’t mean 100% Pure New Zealand isn’t important, it has given New Zealand a richer meaning through its presence, but it’s a campaign, not a brand,” he says.

He has particular concerns about the line being too closely aligned with New Zealand’s environmental performance, believing that 100% Pure New Zealand remains more about the experience and feeling of a trip to New Zealand.

So, would he change it?

“I don’t think I’d be keen to change it at all. It‘s been and can continue to be very strong, we just need to shape what it means and make sure that it doesn’t come to mean ‘100% green’, and we need to be very clear about what it does mean,” he says.

He says the best way to explain the power of the Web is to see the world through the eyes of a “digital native”; someone in their twenties in Tokyo or London who lives a digital life, where their social lives, dates, banking, shopping and conversations are all done via the Web.

For travel, he believes people are looking online for buying and pricing comparisons and reading reviews, but more by other travellers like themselves than by paid journalists.

He says for New Zealand, and Tourism New Zealand, this opens up options for taking a niche brand and destination and putting it into niche travel areas.

He gives the example of a 35-year old British traveller who likes golf, but wants to go on holiday with their family.

“Wouldn’t they really want to talk to someone like themselves who went to New Zealand with their family and then find out what they did and what they liked and what worked because there was something for their partner and children to do while they went to play golf.

“Helping people find ways to be reassured to make a purchase to travel feels like a really rich space to me,” Bowler says.

Source: Tourism New Zealand