Climate change in Tourism

Climate change in Tourism

Embargoed till 9.00am 16 May 2007

The Tourism Industry Association represents 2000 businesses and organisations within the tourism industry.

Members include airlines, airport companies, and regional tourism organisations, rental car, coach and taxi companies, inbound tour operators, accommodation providers, tourism attractions, researchers, training organisations and tourism services providers.

Tourism is New Zealand’s largest export earner – accounting for 18.7% of this country’s export earnings.

The Tourism Industry Association organises the New Zealand Tourism Industry Conference, TRENZ, PURE LUXURY New Zealand and the New Zealand Tourism Industry Awards.

Go to www.tianz.org.nz The weather is not the only thing turning up the heat on tourism and the industry faces significant challenges if it is to continue to grow prosperity across New Zealand, says the Tourism Industry Association (TIA) today.

The Chief Executive of TIA, Fiona Luhrs, says the release today of the Draft New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2015 is a call to action to everyone involved in tourism - and that includes just about the whole country.

“Fierce competition from new destinations, critical staff shortages and an intense focus on our environmental credentials from key visitor markets are just a few of the challenges we need to tackle front on,” she says.
Central to the Draft Strategy is sustainability in its broadest sense, with a particular focus on environmental management.

“There is general acceptance that global warming is serious, unequivocal and accelerating. For tourism this means more and more travellers are expressing concerns and taking the environment into consideration when making travel plans.

With over a third of our lands in Conservation management, renewable energy supplies and a strong commitment by many operators, New Zealand has a fantastic story to tell. But we have to front up – it is not acceptable to drive inefficient vehicles and manage waste as poorly as we do in many areas. It’s time for the industry and wider New Zealand to clean up.

“Financial viability of individual firms is critical so operators can make sufficient returns to grow and re-invest in their businesses. Employees in the industry need to be paid more competitive wages and given the development opportunities that keep them in tourism long term,” says Luhrs.

The Draft Strategy also focuses on the mutually beneficial relationship between tourism and communities. Ms Luhrs says this is about making sure tourism businesses are in tune with the values of local communities.

At the same time it’s about ensuring the contribution of tourism is absolutely recognised. This contribution might be anything from the funding and rebuild of heritage areas in a city, to providing enough visitor business to support a rural community.

The Draft Strategy clearly outlines the opportunities and the challenges ahead. It provides actions and recommendations. “What we need now is to see a commitment from governments – local and central - and the industry to step up,” she says.

At a joint media conference today the Minister of Tourism, Hon Damien O’Connor and TIA released the draft to the public, industry and government for comment by midday, 27 June.

Visit www.nztourismstrategy.com to read and comment on the Draft, and for further information.

Key statistics about tourism:
 Tourism is the world's fastest growing industry
 New Zealand tourism arrivals have doubled in size since 1994 to 2.4 million
 Forecast annual growth is 4% on average for at least the next five years
 Tourism is New Zealand's single largest export sector and contributed $8.1 billion dollars to the economy in the year ended March 2005. That is 18.7% of exports
 Domestic tourism contributes $9.4 billion to the economy each year
 Tourism directly and indirectly employs 10 percent of the work force. That is one in 10 jobs in New Zealand.
 Tourism represents 9% of gross domestic product and generates nearly $526 million in GST returns from international visitors each year. Tourism is the only export sector whose international clients pay GST.

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