South Island tourism groups in New Zealand are joining forces to promote “self-drive” holidays to Australians and potentially tourists from Southeast Asia.
Stuff.nz reports that Tourism New Zealand and regional tourism organisations are launching a $1.6 million campaign to encourage overseas tourists to enjoy scenic drives or other South Island escapes such as a rail journey.
The South Island tourism industry is still suffering from lower tourism numbers after the February 22 Christchurch earthquake.
“There’s about 10 major road trip routes that are pretty popular … the heroes of the campaign are actually the road trips themselves,” said Christchurch & Canterbury Tourism chief executive, Tim Hunter,
Advertising on travel websites and print advertising in Australian newspapers would start next month and would look to take advantage of visitors in New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup.
The tourism groups would also be promoting dual road/rail trips based on the highlights of the South Island.
KiwiRail mothballed its Christchurch-Picton TranzCoastal service in early April following the Christchurch earthquakes.
KiwiRail said the service – to be relaunched on August 15 – was being rebranded as Coastal Pacific to “give it an identity of its own” and differentiate it from the TranzAlpine service.
