Tourism heads for No 1 earner

By KARYN SCHERER

The tourism industry expects to cement its position as New Zealand's single largest foreign exchange earner this year, with spending by tourists already exceeding ambitious targets set just seven months ago.

Figures released by Tourism New Zealand this week show international visitors spent a record $4 billion in New Zealand in 1999.

While visitor arrivals were up 8 per cent, the average amount spent each day by visitors was up 18.5 per cent.

Yesterday, the board told tourism operators at an industry roadshow in Auckland, it expected spending to exceed its target of $4.2 billion for the year ending in June.

It also continued to paint an optimistic picture for the year ahead, despite the slowing of growth from some markets.

While independent research has shown New Zealand can expect growth in visitor numbers of about 6 per cent a year for the next six years, the board is crossing its fingers for a more optimistic figure of about 10 per cent a year - higher than the boom period in the 1980s.

Tourism New Zealand's operations manager, Tim Hunter, noted yesterday that visitor numbers were close to achieving the board's targets for the current year.

However, he also noted that spending was 5 per cent ahead of targets, partly due to a weak New Zealand dollar.

"They're not staying longer, but they're doing more and spending more, which is good news."

While the strong growth in Australian and American tourist numbers is expected to slow over the next year, the number of visitors from the United Kingdom is expected to continue to boom.

The number of UK travellers visiting New Zealand has increased by 9 per cent in the past six months, and is expected to grow by as much as 15 per cent by the end of June.

Asia has also bounced back strongly, with Asian arrivals growing three times faster than they are in Australia - a trend believed to be spurred by a desire among many Asian tourists to try something new. The number of Korean tourists, in particular, has almost tripled over the past year.

Thailand and Singapore are also showing growth, and the board is predicting growth from Japan by the end of this year.

A major investment by the board in Germany has also seen some recovery in German arrivals, after six years of steady decline.

In another healthy sign for the industry, a record number of local operators are expected to attend the industry annual trade show in May. More than 340 operators are already registered for the annual showcase for international travel wholesalers Trenz.

Meanwhile, the industry hopes some short-term disruption during the Sydney Olympics will be compensated for by a long-term increase in tourist numbers.

Mr Hunter said the board was still not sure exactly what effect the Olympics would have on New Zealand.

However, the chief executive of the Tourist Industry Association, Glenys Coughlan, said most operators were expecting a short-term hiccup in arrivals.