Taking the New Zealand brand to the world

Some think the 100% Pure New Zealand campaign still has life in it

In Monday's Business Herald Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe said the tourism industry was lacking focus and would miss out on billions if it did not reassess its growth path. Today industry and Government respond:

The tourism industry is already investing what it can afford, says Fiona Luhrs, Tourism Industry Association chief executive.

But there is a lack of appreciation from the Government "in terms of the value that could be added to the economy". Tourism New Zealand - a state-funded international marketing body - has a budget of $69 million while the industry, unofficially, spends more than $300 million.

Work was being done to confirm the exact industry spend, in order to help counter what Luhrs said was a perception in Government that the industry was not helping itself.

"Well I'm afraid it is, it's already contributing hugely," she said.

However, industry spending could be improved through a more co-ordinated effort, she concedes.

Fragmentation within the sector resulted in a wide variety of industry bodies, which could deal effectively with their specific issues but could also make a cohesive approach more difficult.

"But that's what we're working on at the moment with the update of the tourism strategy that's going on."

A draft of the updated New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2010, which will be extended until 2015, was expected to be available for comment in February.

Luhrs would like to see an increased budget for Tourism New Zealand to enable greater promotion abroad.

The competitive nature of tourism was not properly understood, she said.

"We have less than 0.3 of a per cent of the international visitor market and it is incredibly competitive," Luhrs said. "You just can't imagine that suddenly we're going to move into a new market, people are going to stand in the shower one day and say, 'I must go to New Zealand'.

"I mean most of them don't scarcely know where New Zealand is ... we've got to go and tell them."

However, Tourism Minister Damien O'Connor doesn't accept there is a lack of focus on tourism. O'Connor said the sector was passionate about its place in the economy, while the Government had led the formation of the industry strategy.

State funding could always be larger but there were many priorities in Government and other industries considered tourism to be advantaged by such a direct injection into marketing, he said.

A process of re-energising the branding of New Zealand and focusing it to individual markets was under way, he added. "At this point 100% Pure is internationally recognised, it's internationally awarded and we would be stupid to move away from that now."

Rob Fyfe has suggested that New Zealand's primary marketing campaign 100% Pure may be nearing its use-by date.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said the 100% Pure brand wasn't yet stale and would be refreshed before that happened.

"He's [Rob Fyfe] making a signal and all I'd say is yep, I hear what you're saying Rob and we're on to it," Hickton said. There was some truth in Fyfe's concern about focussing on tried and tested markets such as Australia, US and Britain ahead of other possibilities.

"We have always been quite worried about pulling money out of traditional markets because we felt if you dropped your bundle in Britain in the hope that you get something out of China the whole balance of the New Zealand tourism market could shift in a way which is not productive."

Tourism New Zealand had been given money by the Government to establish an office in India three years ago, Hickton said.

"We'll be looking at what other markets we need and we'll certainly be talking to the Government about where we might need additional funding."

AA's general manager tourism services, Peter Blackwell, agreed with Fyfe that there was a lack of national focus on the value of tourism.

"It's New Zealand's biggest industry in terms of revenue but if you look at government spending in support of other sectors, and more the organisation around the support of other sectors, tourism could be perceived as irrelevant," he said.

Like Luhrs, Blackwell said the competition facing the tourism industry needed to be properly understood. "The competition for global dollars and leisure experiences is extreme and if you look at the core values of what New Zealand is, which is clean and green ... Peru, Chile, Costa Rica, Vietnam - they all can fit into that category of new competitive environments around the world."