Western markets driving continued growth

Western markets driving continued growth

Visitor growth from the western markets has pushed up international visitor arrivals for the year-ending August 2014 to 2.8 million, up 5.3 per cent year-on-year.

Tourism New Zealand General Manager Corporate Affairs Deborah Gray, says while the month of August was flat, year-on-year holiday arrivals are up 7.2 per cent and the increases seen out of the Western markets is particularly positive.

For the year ending August, holiday arrivals out of the US are up 14.2 per cent and Germany up 21.6 per cent. Even France is showing growth with holiday arrivals up 19.2 per cent for the same period.

“As we approach the final instalment of The Hobbit Trilogy, our 100% Middle-earth, 100% Pure New Zealand campaign activity is stepping up a gear. With some exciting opportunities to leverage the event on the horizon, we expect to see this trend continue.”

Last week Air New Zealand announced they will increase capacity on their Auckland-Los Angeles route by 20 per cent over the northern summer (March – October) in 2015, providing an additional 56,000 seats for the period.

“This great news is a further reflection of the growing demand between North America and New Zealand,” says Deborah.

Year-on-year growth has been further bolstered by holiday arrivals out of Tourism New Zealand’s target Asian markets with China (up 7.0 per cent), Korea (up 3.1 per cent), Singapore (up 19.9 per cent) and Malaysia (up 18.2 per cent), all in growth.

“This month New Zealand played host to China’s biggest reality TV show, Dad, where are we going? The resulting 200 minutes of footage will be viewed across China to millions of viewers, with the first of two episodes set to go live next week.

“As a result we anticipate even more interest and conversation about New Zealand in this important market.”

Tourism New Zealand’s priority emerging markets are performing well overall with India up an impressive 16.3 per cent and Brazil up 14.9 year-on-year.

"Our number one source market Australia has maintained year-on-year growth with holiday arrivals up 4.7 per cent for the year ending August.

"Earlier this month we launched the North Island touring campaign ‘Every day a different journey’ – one of our largest and most successful campaigns in Australia, which will see the wonders of the North Island promoted across the ditch,” says Deborah.

The campaign will be further leveraged through Tourism New Zealand’s #NZdronie activity which will see a drone (remote controlled flying camera) tour the North Island allowing visitors to take their own unique eight second video to share with their social media followers.

ENDS

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