New guides offer practical ideas for tourism

New guides offer practical ideas for tourism businesses

23 June 2008

New guides to the New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2015 offer tourism operators practical ideas on how to enhance their businesses, as well New Zealand’s wider tourism industry.

The three guides released today were jointly developed by the Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA), the Ministry of Tourism and Tourism New Zealand. They are aimed at operators working in three major sectors of the tourism industry:

- Accommodation & hospitality
- Visitor activities & attractions
- Transport – land, water and air.

Similar guides for other sectors are being developed.

TIA Acting Chief Executive Oscar Nathan says the guides offer a variety of ways operators can support the principle goals of the Strategy.

“They focus on four key areas for operators – their visitors, their business, their environment and their community.

“We know operators are already working hard to enhance their businesses but new ideas are always valuable. These guides have been designed to be easy to read and practical, so I strongly encourage operators to download a copy of their sector guide from www.nztourismstrategy.com ,” Mr Nathan says.

“By strengthening their own businesses, operators also help enhance the wider tourism industry, so everybody benefits.”

The New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2015 was launched in November 2007 and sets the direction to lead the tourism industry into the future.

TIA is leading implementation of the Strategy for the industry, in conjunction with members and sector trade associations. Work is underway in the areas of the environment, workforce and immigration, and local government. For more information on the Strategy, visit www.nztourismstrategy.com

Key statistics about tourism:

- Tourism is the world's fastest growing industry
- New Zealand tourism arrivals have increased by 61% since 1999 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. International visitors contributed $8.3 billion dollars to the economy in the year ended March 2006. That is 19.2% of exports

- Domestic tourism contributes $10.3 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 8.9% ($12.8 billion) of gross domestic product and generates $531 million in GST returns from international visitors each year. Tourism is the only export sector whose international clients pay GST.

ENDS

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