Rekindling the yen for brand NZ

Modern Japanese visitors want to see more than farms and mountains. Photo / Alan Gibson

Jason Hill has his father to thank for the fact that he can speak fluent Japanese.

His father was a far-sighted fellow and demanded that his son study either Japanese or Mandarin at university. It proved very useful.

These days, Hill jnr is head of Tourism New Zealand's Tokyo office and is grateful for the career he has had so far. "But in hindsight, I probably should have done Mandarin," he jokes.

Back in the 80s, Japanese was a popular choice. It is still the second-most popular language (behind French) in New Zealand schools, although demand for Japanese-speaking staff in the tourism industry has waned in recent years.

Between 1983 and 1996, the number of Japanese visiting New Zealand increased by more than 400 per cent. But growth rates have been uneven since then, and in the past few years have dramatically reversed.

Japan's stagnating economy and New Zealand's swine flu outbreak partly explain the sudden decline, and Hill is convinced it is only a temporary blip.

"There's still no shortage of disposable income in Japan - it's just that people are hiding it under their mattresses."

A quarter of all Japanese don't even own a passport. And such is the country's work ethic that employees will often forgo their holidays if they don't get a chance to use them. Among those who do want to travel, Hawaii is by far the most popular destination, followed by Australia, Italy, France, the United States, Switzerland and Canada.

Those that do make it here spend a fortune - on average more than $5000 each - ensuring it is still a very valuable market for New Zealand.

"The anecdotal evidence is that people are spending more on tourism activities, rather than just buying more gifts for their family, so that is good."

But Japanese I spoke to hinted at some fundamental problems that could yet prove tricky to address. They all complained that Air New Zealand was too expensive, with infrequent - and sometimes not even direct - flights.

Until recently Air New Zealand had a virtual monopoly on direct flights, code-sharing with Japan's national airline, JAL. But Australian upstart Jetstar has recently muscled in on the market, offering hugely discounted deals. Hill admits to frustration at the amount Jetstar has spent on marketing - by his estimate more than Tourism New Zealand has spent in Japan over the past decade.

"Unfortunately we haven't been able to run our 100 per cent Pure campaign in Japan for a couple of years now. It's more about priorities and return on investment at the time, but we're hoping now that the exchange rate is back in our favour and fuel surcharges - which were quite prohibitive in Japan - have dropped right down, maybe there's an opportunity to get that back.

"For both us and Air New Zealand, the timing seems to be getting better and next year we should start to see some of those macro things come back in our favour. Once we start seeing that, we'll all get more confidence about increasing our investment in Japan."

In the meantime, Hill is proud of some of the innovative ideas his own staff have come up with which haven't cost much at all - like the idea to link our own Tane Mahuta with a famous Japanese tree, in what could yet become an international "family of trees".

It might sound bizarre, but that is the sort of attraction that is proving popular with Japanese these days, as even they move on from package tourism, he insists.

About 20,000 Japanese went to the Soccer World Cup in Germany last year, and up to 6000 are expected here for the Rugby World Cup.

"Japanese travellers, like all of us, have certainly matured and they are looking for different things these days," says Hill. "Despite the image we have of them, they are very individualistic people, and a lot of them have a lot more hobbies and interests than we Kiwis do."

But he admits that persuading Japan's 12,000 travel agents that there is more to New Zealand than sheep and mountains can be a challenge.

"Many of the people we are dealing with have been in the industry for years and years and years and have got very set views."

Air New Zealand's boss in Japan, Chris Myers, gets on well with Hill and echoes many of his sentiments.

New Zealand is partly suffering from the fact that long-haul travel has become less popular, as workers have cut back their holidays, he says.

"The other part is definitely the cost. You can get to Singapore at the moment for the equivalent of US$200 ($278), and to China for not much."

But he insists that the airline's prices are not too high, and says Air New Zealand has made a deliberate decision not to get into a price war.

"Australia plays a pricing/volume game but we play more of a quality and upmarket game, which is consistent with our destination position. What we want is travellers who are more interested in the experience than the cost."

But just as the Japanese need to change their stereotypical view of New Zealand, so do Kiwis need to change their perceptions of Japan, says Myers. "When the yen was 50 to the kiwi dollar, sure it was expensive. But Japan's an amazing place. Even if you're eating here, if you know where to go, you can get some relatively good prices these days and not break the bank."