Travel promotion takes new turn

Press, 19 August 1983, Page 14

Travel promotion takes new turn

From

JOHN HUTCHISON

in San Francisco

Americans and Canadians anywhere on the North American continent may now dial a toll-free number and receive New Zealand travel information from a newly organised staff. The service will also make reservations for New Zealand travel for American and Canadian travel agencies. Mr David Chapman, senior travel commissioner for North America, in San Francisco from his Los Angeles office to inaugurate the service, said it would improve the handling of inquiries and make more use of staff. The tourist offices in Los Angeles, New York, and Vancouver would no longer deal with travel inquiries, devoting their energies solely to New Zealand travel promotion. The new system adopts “wide-

area telephone service,” known as W.A.T.S., used by thousands of American organisations as a sales and information service tool. Mr Chapman described it as: “A step into the modern world” for the Tourist Office.

His commissioner in San Francisco, Mr Jefferies Tippen, explained that the booking service was not meant to by-pass New Zealand tourism organisations, but to provide an additional marketing arm for them. The information service for consumers would answer their questions and send them literature about New Zealand.

Mr Chapman said he believes the service will attract increased travel — perhaps a rise in this fiscal year of 5 or 6 per cent. North American tourists to New

Zealand in the 12 months ending last March, numbered 94,000, he said. The number had fallen in 1982 to 90,000 after the record high of 93,000 the year before. He noted that the figures had climbed from 67,000 for the year ending in March of 1978.

Mr Chapman attributed the recent increase, and his prediction for the current year, to sharper competition in South Pacific air fares, continued growth of interest in New Zealand as a tourist destination, and the high value of the United States dollar in relation to New Zealand’s (SUSI equals about SNZI.SS). A staff of three New Zealanders in San Francisco will run the new booking service under Mr Tippen’s supervision. Ms Lynn Smith, reservations manager, and Mr Allan Lloyd, senior travel consultant, are from Auckland. The marketing officer, Mr John Meilink, has just arrived from Wellington.