Tourism Holdings laments high dollar

Tourism Holdings chairman Keith Smith says Australia is also feeling dollar pinch. Picture / Greg Bowker

The high Kiwi and Aussie dollar is making price sensitive tourists such as backpackers and the Japanese think twice before travelling, the chairman of New Zealand's largest tourism company said.

Tourism Holdings chairman Keith Smith warned visitor growth is slowing mainly from key markets in Japan and Asia, a trend that may persist for the rest of the year.

"Most notable within our expectation for the year is very soft trading with low volume movements out of Japan and other Asian markets," Smith told shareholders at the company's annual meeting in Auckland yesterday.

Tourism Holdings' tour coaching unit and attractions such as Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World or the Waitomo Cave among others would feel the biggest impact from the slowing growth. With assets on both sides of the Tasman as well as in Fiji, the company also rents motorhomes and campervans.

The company is forecasting net profit for the six months to December to be about $17 million, down slightly from the year before after accounting for adjustments. It will report its half-year results in February.

Not all shareholders were happy with the forecast.

"Clearly the dollars are getting away from us, and we're not getting our share of the tourism activity," said one shareholder.

One proxy holder said he was consistently "depressed" by the company's outlook.

"I don't know any company that has more consistently missed profit forecasts. It suggests there is something wrong at the board level," he said.

Smith told shareholders that the company was facing factors that were out of its control, for instance, the high currency rates and the sluggishness of the Australian tourism market, which had finally shown positive signs of late.

On a brighter note, Smith said summer bookings for the peak tourist season of January to March were "well ahead of last year".