New Zealand seeks longer stays for rising number of Asian guests

New Zealand is aiming to capitalise on a record number of Asian visitors with a campaign to encourage them to spend longer in the country.

Speaking to Travel Daily at ITB Asia on Wednesday, Tourism New Zealand’s regional manager for South & Southeast Asia, Steven Dixon, said that the country welcomed more than 100,000 guests from “Peninsular Southeast Asia” (Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia) in the year ending July 2015 – the first time it has reached six-digit figures from this region – including a record 48,000 visitors from Singapore.

And under its new ‘Every Day a Different Journey’ campaign, which launched earlier this year, Tourism New Zealand is aiming to increase Asian guests’ length-of-stay by introducing them to different parts of the country.

“[We’re concentrating on] regional dispersion; getting people out to the different regions,” said Dixon. “If we look at the South Island we’re seeing a lot more Asians – and especially Singaporeans – self-driving. Every Day a Different Journey is highlighting the fact that there are so many different landscapes in new Zealand that are all in easy reach.

“We love having more visitors to New Zealand, but the key for us is to increase the value of those visitors,” he added.

At present, the average length-of-stay for Singaporean tourists in New Zealand is two weeks, which Dixon said was “extremely healthy”, considering the limited number of public holidays Singaporeans have. The rise of self-driving holidays is contributing to extended trips among Singaporeans, and Tourism New Zealand has set itself the target of extending the average length-of-stay by a further 5% this financial year.

Away from Singapore, other Asian source markets contributing more arrivals to New Zealand include India, which is up 28% year-on-year. This result was helped by New Zealand’s hosting of the Cricket World Cup, but can also be partially attributed to improved air connectivity. The Singapore Airlines-Air New Zealand alliance, which launched in January 2015, has led to a 20% increase in capacity between New Zealand and Singapore, and Indian passengers can now access more one-stop connections to New Zealand via Changi Airport.

And Tourism New Zealand will also hope to build on a 17% increase in visitor arrivals from the Philippines when Philippine Airlines launches its new Manila-Cairns-Auckland route in December 2015.

Arrivals from Indonesia are up 20%, but visitor numbers from Thailand remain flat, due to the overall downturn in Thai outbound tourism.