Australians Heed Call to Find Out ‘What’s On’

22 September 2006

MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Australians Heed Call to Find Out ‘What’s On’

International visitor arrivals to New Zealand for August are up by 3.3 per cent, propelled by an 8.3 per cent increase in arrivals from Australia.

“This is great news, especially off the back of our new ‘What’s On’ Australian campaign,” says George Hickton Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive. “We have invested a great deal of thought into how better to attract Australians to New Zealand, and get them to come now, go out to the regions, and think about coming in the ‘shoulder’ seasons. This result shows that we have hit the mark.”

The ‘What’s On’ campaign was launched in Australia in August, and aims to give Australians specific reasons to come to New Zealand. It uses a series of events currently under a ‘Spring Festival’ banner.

According to figures released today by Statistics New Zealand there were 155,699 international visitors in the month of August, an increase of 3.3%.

The latest figures show the Japanese market continues to decline. George Hickton says Tourism New Zealand has a number of initiatives underway in this market to get the New Zealand message out there and encourage travel to our country.

“There is a $2.6 million marketing campaign taking place in Japan at the moment, including magazine, newspaper and online media. We also have a project happening with Japan Travel Bureau (JTB) and Maui campervans, taking a 100% Pure branded campervan across Japan to train travel agents.”

Highlights for the month of August 2006
Australia 69,594 up 8.3% US 11,361 down 3.4%
UK 12,138 down 8.7% Japan 11,004 down 12.4%
China 7,665 up 14.4%

ENDS

www.tourismnewzealand.com www.newzealand.com

© Scoop Media