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
•
• 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.
•
• 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
•
• 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)
•
ENDS