AUCKLAND – Australia is doing the business for New Zealand – and the Kiwis are grateful.
While the world pays off its debts, and travel becomes less of a priority, New Zealand is refusing to cry about lost long-haul markets and instead is reaping the benefits of paying more attention to attracting visitors from Australia.
Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said, “When we looked at the global economic slowdown our forecast for arrivals this year was that they would be down between five and 10 percent.
“This persuaded us to focus on certain regions, and Australia in particular The result is that visitor arrivals from Australia in May were up 22 percent, and now account for 40 percent of the total inbound market.
Hickton said the numbers from Australia were helped by cheap airfares across the Tasman and the fall in value of the New Zealand dollar.
New Zealand is also being boosted by the early start to the ski season.
“The snow is falling and it’s raining dollars,” Hickton said.
