Andrew LITTLE

Tourism Spokesperson                       

21 April 2013                                                     

MEDIA STATEMENT  

Kiwi experience is special, not same old, same as
 
“The Prime Minister's announcement this afternoon on how the government will spend $158 million on tourism over the next four years looks like a random shopping list of tourists he wants to bring here, rather than a carefully thought out strategy to play to our tourism strengths, Labour’s Tourism spokesperson Andrew Little says.
 
“John Key says the extra money in this year's budget will be used to attract more conferences and conventions as well as high value tourists from China, India, Indonesia and Latin America.
 
“The trouble is it comes at the same time the Aussies are ramping up plans to sell that country as a destination to the same market.
 
"Today’s speech was short on detail regarding what we do when these thousands of extra tourists actually arrive here, suggesting an element of Mr Key putting the cart before the horse.
 
"The value in getting more conference and convention tourists here is in what they do outside of that.
 
"New Zealand’s distinctive advantage lies in its scenic beauty, so any strategy must include making sure we have the means to provide appealing add-ons to conferences."
 
"Likewise with trying to win tourists from presently unconventional origins, we need to ensure we can host them well and have an understanding of what they want to do and what is needed to make them feel welcome.
 
"And it's not just about getting them to our front door that matters. It's also about making sure we have the tourism infrastructure and other means to make theirs a great visit.
 
"We need to realise too, that there are competitive factors likely to affect the success of this sort of spend, including our obstinately high dollar and Australia's recently announced 'G’day China’ campaign which targets the same affluent tourists Mr Key wants to bring here.
 
“New Zealand is a special place. We should be selling ourselves as such.”
 
ENDS

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