New Zealand Celebrates One Million Australian Visitors with Promotion

Figures released by Statistics New Zealand show that over one million Australian visitors (1,001,880) arrived in New Zealand from Australia between May 2008 and May 2009.

To celebrate, Tourism New Zealand has launched a "Thanks a Million" promotion in which Australians will go in the draw to win a millionaires holiday in New Zealand.

The holiday will include return business class Air New Zealand tickets. Navigate Oceania has arranged nights in some of New Zealand’s top luxury lodges - The Boatshed (Waiheke Island), Treetops Lodge and Wilderness Experience (Rotorua), Wharekauhau Country Estate (Martinborough), Remarkables Lodge (Queenstown).

"This record is an important milestone for the New Zealand tourism industry. It shows that the increased focus we have put on the Australian market over the last twelve months to offset reductions in other markets has paid off," Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said.

The "Thanks a Million" competition goes live today and will run for two weeks.

The Government made an additional $2.5 million of funding available in March specifically for promotional work in Australia. This has resulted in Tourism New Zealand being able to up-weight its marketing from April through to the end of June.

This campaign was matched by Air New Zealand’s "The Big Shout" promotion (19 April - 10 May 2009). The tourism industry also supported the Tourism New Zealand campaign with deals and offers.

Air New Zealand's Group General Manager Short Haul Airlines Bruce Parton said the airline's own $2.5m campaign effort in Australia resulted in a dramatic increase in trans-Tasman and domestic bookings.

"Trans-Tasman bookings as a result of the campaign for May and June travel were up 50% while domestic flight booking add-ons increased by 132%.

It means there have been an estimated 15,000 Australians visiting regional New Zealand these past two months," Mr Parton said.

A favourable exchange rate, good airline capacity and competitive airfares have also been positive factors affecting the Australian market.

Australian visitor arrivals have almost doubled in the last decade from 507,938 in the year ending May 1999 to 1,001,880 in the year ending May 2009.

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