Lots has been revealed so far at TRENZ 2023.
From promising passenger figures at Air New Zealand to the surging role of regenerative tourism, the NZ travel industry has recovered but unfortunately, has hit a bit of a plateau.
The notion of revenge travel has subsided a bit and a problem facing many destinations globally is staying on top of travellers’ minds in order to get travel numbers back to pre-COVID levels. This was a key issue discussed by the Tourism New Zealand CEO René de Monchy at a media conference this morning.
When question time came around, Travel Weekly asked Monchy about how Tourism New Zealand can continue to entice the Aussie travel trade and travel agents to continue sending their clients across the Tasman following this plateau.
“Australia, as I previously said, is obviously our only short-haul market and our largest market in terms of value to New Zealand… when the border reopened it was the first market that we went live in with marketing activity again because it makes up the predominant share of our visited travellers,” Monchy told Travel Weekly.
He went on to illustrate that TRENZ itself was an example of this as there is a larger number of Australian buyers at the event than ever before.
“One of the other things we did last year,” Mochy continued on reconnecting with the Aussie trade, “almost immediately after the border opening, we actually helped coordinate a roadshow into Australia to reconnect with travel trade, as well as activating our consumer activity. And that will continue.
“Our view as we look to the future (is that) travel trade has always been really important for New Zealand – for both Australia and especially for long-haul markets.
“Our expectation is, as we come out of COVID, having that expert help you with your booking will be even more important.
“So we’ll be even more focused on ensuring that we find the right partners and that they have the right information to be able to make a booking to New Zealand.”
In terms of general recovery for New Zealand’s travel market, Monchy revealed that holiday arrivals sit at 59 per cent of pre-COVID levels, while total arrivals are at 71 per cent.
Featured Image: Monchy addressing media at TRENZ (supplied by TRENZ)
