THE PRESS TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 1982. Tourism set-backs

Press, 13 April 1982, Page 20

THE PRESS TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 1982. Tourism set-backs

The goal towards which the tourist industry in New Zealand has been working is an average annual growth in visitor numbers of 8 per cent, which would give the country about one million tourists* a year by 1990. The decade has got off to a bad start. The total number of visitors from all countries increased in 1981, but by only 2.7 per cent, far below, the 8 per cent sought. The number of visitors from some key countries, notably Australia, declined. New Zealand is a less attractive destination for Australian holidaymakers' now that air fares from Australia to more .glamorous destinations than New Zealand are cheaper. The industry is a highly competitive one, .and the failure of the Australian market to expand at. the rate hoped for, largely for this reason, is a sharp reminder that New Zealand is not the only country hunting the tourist dollar.

The brute fact is that tourist dollars have to be earned. Money has to be spent overseas on market research and promotion in order to bring money into the country in the pockets of tourists. A report presented to the Minister of Tourism in November, 1981, urged on the Government a greater emphasis on marketing and a large increase in spending on tourist promotion. The Government appears not to have heeded this advice. Spending on tourist promotion is not matching the amounts the Tourism Advisory Council recommended a few years ago. Assurances that the cuts in the spending of the Tourist and Publicity Department, part of the Government’s general cost-cutting exercise, will not cause promotion of New Zealand as a tourist destination to suffer are not entirely convincing. The irony is that if the Government spent considerably more on tourist promotion it could well recoup what it spent, and more, from the extra general tax revenue which a greater flow of tourists would generate.

The Government seems even to have been willing to jeopardise growth in a small but potentially lucrative market by forbidding the Argentine airline from continuing, its flights to New Zealand. Although the flights were infrequent and the number of tourists brought in on them small, the decision can only have impeded

efforts to develop South American tourist markets. The Government may have made its political point at cost to an industry which needs every possible encouragement, and not discouragement, at this time.

To attract tourists to New Zealand it may be necessary to look more intently at what New Zealand can offer and be ready to make up any. deficiencies, perhaps in the area of matching the country’s scenic splendour and opportunities for outdoor recreation with cultural and historical attractions. There is a need,' also, to provide a greater range of facilities so that the more flexible arrangements favoured by many of today’s tourists are possible. Transport services may have to be rearranged better to suit the needs of tourists. Co-operation between the tourist industry and the country's various transport interests has not always , been as good as it should have been. But important as this “groundwork” in New Zealand itself, will be to attaining the desired rate of growth in tourist numbers, the key will remain market research and promotion in the countries from which the hoped-for tourists will come. If these activities are starved of money, the industry as a whole will languish.

Tourism may never be a mainstay of the New Zealand economy — indeed were it to become so, tourist numbers might have disagreeable consequences, even destroying the casual friendliness which makes New Zealand an attractive destination to many and which is this country’s greatest asset for “word-of-mouth” advertising by those who have been here. But the country can stand to earn substantial sums from the industry, and it has the added advantage of being a service industry and labour intensive. It has been suggested that if the target of tourist arrivals set for the year ending March 31, 1982, had been reached, the country would have been richer by nearly $4O million and had more than 3000 additional jobs to offer the unemployed. Even if these figures are over-generous, they are an indication of the possibilities there are for the country in the tourist industry, if a determined and adequately financed effort is made to sell New Zealand as a tourist destination.