Tourism aims to double its contribution to New Zealand's economy

The New Zealand tourism industry has set itself a challenge to almost double the amount of money that it contributes to the economy over the next decade.

With tourism's ongoing strong growth continuing with total international arrivals for the first two months of 2014 up by 9.5% on the same period last year, the new industry-led Tourism 2025 aims to increase the industry's contribution to the economy to $41 billion over the next decade.

Regional Tourism Organisations New Zealand (RTONZ) Chair David Perks addeds "Tourism 2025 is an ambitious, aspirational vision of how tourism can grow significantly in the next decade as a major driver of economic growth throughout all parts of New Zealand."

RTONZ contributed to the development of Tourism 2025 by providing insights into domestic tourism, which has been increasing steadily in New Zealand over a considerable period of time. Today it is worth almost $14 billion dollars annually to the tourism industry and makes up 59% of total tourism earnings.

Perks explained "domestic tourism delivers many benefits to the New Zealand economy and communities across our country. The expenditure New Zealanders make on domestic travel is retained within the New Zealand economy and buffers businesses and communities from the vagaries of the global economy."

Domestic visitors spend $39 million per day, making a substantial contribution to the industry's overall financial resilience, sustainability and functionality.

Perks added "many tourism businesses would not survive if it were not for the year round patronage of domestic visitors."

Kiwis contribute more visitor nights and higher expenditure than international visitors, and help address seasonality and regional dispersal challenges.

Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIANZ) Chief Executive Martin Snedden said the plan is to unite tourism operators under a set of goals with the aim of extracting more value from tourists.

Snedden suggested "until now many operators have been fixated on visitor numbers, but that's got to change ... with (a need for) more emphasis on high spending tourists."

Tourism 2025 captures the distinctive flavour of New Zealand tourism, and the five themes chosen to build the framework around are tried and tested and will stand the test of time through to 2025.

The framework sets out pathways for success by identifying opportunities that the industry can grasp, take ownership of, and drive forward.

Perks concludes "tourism industry ownership and commitment to the framework is vital to success, and regional economic growth.

"Regional Tourism Organisations will I am sure do their bit to ensure that success".

Meanwhile, Statistic New Zealand's latest International Travel and Migration statistics for international arrivals for the year ended February 2014 showed 2.77 million arrivals, a new 12 month record and a 7.3% increase.

The recently released figures also showed holiday arrivals were up by 10.6% in the past year.

While there have been a range of influences, the latest data from the International Visitor Survey (conducted by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment) shows that the popularity of The Hobbit trilogy and the link with New Zealand as Middle-earth is a key factor in growing the value of international visitors to New Zealand.

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