Minister Announces Tourism Ministry And Marketing Partnership

The government has taken significant decisions which acknowledge the importance of tourism to New Zealand, the Minister of Tourism Mark Burton told the Tourism Conference in Rotorua this morning.

The developments include a new Ministry of Tourism and an enhanced public/private partnership approach to the international marketing of the New Zealand tourism product.

The Minister gave conference delegates a progress report on the work that has been carried out to address key recommendations of the Tourism Strategy 2010, a joint project between the public and private sector that was released in May.

"Cabinet has considered some of the key structural recommendations of the Strategy," Mark Burton told the conference.

"Accordingly, I am pleased to announce that the office of Tourism and Sport will be developed as a Ministry of Tourism in keeping with the Tourism Strategy recommendation for a whole-of-government approach to tourism policy. The new Tourism Ministry's strong relationship with the Ministry of Economic Development will be maintained in the same manner as the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.

"The Ministry of Tourism will play a strong role in representing the interests of tourism within and across government. The establishment date for the Ministry is January 2002.

"In order to most effectively undertake the branding and marketing of New Zealand as a visitor destination, the Tourism Strategy recommended that the work of the Government's organisation, Tourism New Zealand, should now be developed through a jointly operated public/private organisation to lead New Zealand’s destination marketing activities.

"The government agrees that such a partnership approach could significantly enhance the ability of New Zealand to brand and market itself in international markets, building on the foundations laid by Tourism New Zealand.

"Cabinet has asked me to examine if and how the Tourism New Zealand functions can best be enhanced on a joint-venture basis between the public and private sectors. To this end, I will be reporting back to my Cabinet colleagues by the end of October.

"New Zealand is too small a voice in our international markets to miss any opportunities to utilise our collective strengths.

"As the Minister of Tourism, I am well pleased that my colleagues have agreed that the government must act strongly and decisively to support the general thrust of the Strategy, and to give effect to keys recommendations where they are the responsibility of the public sector.

"The key institutional developments that I have set out are not about making changes for the sake of it. They are about formalising the partnership relationships that contributed so strongly to the New Zealand Tourism Strategy development process.

"We have adopted an active partnership approach to tourism, one that builds upon the great skills and capabilities that we have in our tourism sector.

This is an exciting time and I will continue to work cooperatively with tourism sector interests to achieve the broad aims identified in the Strategy," Mark Burton said.

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