After All Black it’s Aussie Aussie Aussie

MEDIA RELEASE

Date: 6 September

After All Black it’s Aussie Aussie Aussie

Aside from the All Blacks, it’s our Aussie neighbours that we’ll be cheering on during the Rugby World Cup, new research shows.

The latest Fly Buys/Colmar Brunton Mood of the New Zealand Traveller Survey released by the Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA), found that apart from the All Blacks, one in 10 Kiwis will be cheering on Australia. Samoa and England are our next favourites, cheered on by 8% of New Zealanders. But 29% of us say there is no other team – it’s the All Blacks or no one.

According to Fly Buys Chief Executive Lance Walker, it’s not surprising almost one third of us are only backing black, but picking our biggest rivals, as our second favourite team is unexpected.

“Traditionally we think of the Aussies as the team we’d most like to beat when it comes to sport. These results show that maybe we favour our neighbours more than we like to admit,” he says.

While the Rugby World Cup can’t start soon enough for 45% of Kiwis, 55% say they have had enough already, despite the fact that teams haven’t taken to the field yet. And when asked when given the choice of where they would rather be on 23 October, an island escape or attending the final, 68% chose being on an island far far away, and 32% being at Eden Park watching the final.

TIA Chief Executive Tim Cossar says that while there may be some Rugby World Cup fatigue, when the tournament starts on Friday the majority of us will be watching.

“The survey found that 73% of New Zealanders are intending to watch at least some of this year’s Rugby World Cup, in the stadium or on the screen, with almost two in five Kiwis (18%) attending live matches,” he says.

According to Colmar Brunton Chief Executive Harry Pappafloratos, when it comes to disruptions to travel, one in four Kiwis (26%) have changed their plans because of the Cup.

“Only 2% of the country has plans to escape overseas during the Cup, while 11% will be travelling less and 3% will be travelling more within the country during the cup. A further 8% of us have made alterations to our usual holiday plans to travel before or after the Cup. Almost one in 10 of us (9%) will be taking time off work during the Cup festivities, for an average of two and a half days,” he says.

Other information

• 21% of New Zealanders have heard of the Real New Zealand Festival
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• The number of live Rugby World Cup games New Zealanders are attending are: 8% one game, 4% two games, 2% three games, 1% four games and 3% five or more.
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• Of our top New Zealand destination hot spots for winter/spring holidays, Wellington, Auckland and Queenstown are our top destinations. Christchurch has moved back into fourth place, after being in sixth place in July 2011
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• Australia is our number one world destination hot spot for winter/spring holidays, followed by USA. Fiji is in third place, up from sixth in July 2011 and UK is in fourth (down from third in July 2011)
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ENDS

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