Latest News from Tourism New Zealand

The winner of Tourism New Zealand’s ‘Thanks a Million Oz!’ competition has been announced, with the lucky one in a million Australian walking away with a millionaire’s holiday to New Zealand.

Launched in May, the competition was Tourism New Zealand’s way of saying thank you to our trans-Tasman neighbours, after New Zealand welcomed one million Australian visitors within a twelve month period for the first time.

To enter, participants had only 25 words or less to describe New Zealand. For the lucky winner of the luxury holiday, they may well have been 25 of the most rewarding words.

Read more about the Thanks a Million competition, including who wrote the winning entry, visit our website.
 

Statistics released recently provide the first clear picture of the effect of Influenza A H1N1 (Swine Flu) on Asian visitors’ confidence to travel.

As predicted, June arrivals from South Korea, Japan and China were all seriously impacted by Swine Flu, which was first detected in New Zealand in late April, but quickly spread around the world.

“Experience with past shocks, like SARs and September 11, meant we knew that arrivals from our Asian markets would likely be badly hit by the Swine Flu outbreak,” Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said.

While the Asian arrivals figures were weak, the strength of the Australian market helped the industry to hold its ground.

Tourism New Zealand has been working on keeping New Zealand in the spotlight in Australia. An early-bird ski campaign, great snow and good travel offers has resulted in a bumper ski season for operators.  

Read more about the latest visitor arrivals on our website.

London, Manchester, Amsterdam, Munich and Frankfurt – all will be getting a taste of New Zealand this week.

Fifteen International Marketing Alliance (IMA) representatives are currently in Europe and the UK on a Tourism New Zealand-organised training and relationship-building event.

There are nine International Marketing Alliances, with the concept seeing RTOs combining forces to enable a more coordinated international approach when engaging in Tourism New Zealand trade training activity overseas. Prior to each event RTOs nominates a coordinator to travel and represent the IMA.

The group will meet with Product Managers and conduct training for frontline travel agents to update and develop their New Zealand regional and product knowledge.

Read more about the IMA activities in Europe on our website.
 

Kia Ora! It’s Maori Language week next week, and Tourism New Zealand is encouraging all Kiwis to learn more about one of the most unique things about living in New Zealand –it’s Maori culture, and language.

We’d like to see all tourism operators using “Kia Ora” to greet people. It really does have an impact on visitors, and the more consistent we are, the more the visitors will appreciate the uniqueness this language brings to our country," says George Hickton, Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive.

Read more about Maori Language week on our website.

Fiordland’s Milford sound has made it through to the final stage in the search to establish the Official New7Wonders of Nature.

After recently edging out competition such as the Maldives and Mount Kilimanjaro, Milford Sound now sits alongside natural sites like the Galapagos Islands, Igazu Falls and the Amazon Rainforest as one of the 28 Official Finalist Candidates in this exciting global competition.

From the original 440 participants announced in early January, Milford Sound was New Zealand’s only representative in the tough competition. As a finalist however, the attraction is now a strong contender in the quest to be one of the seven most amazing natural sites on earth.

Read more about Milford Sound and the Official New7Wonders of Nature competition on our website.

To vote for Milford Sound, visit the official New7Wonders website.