By Greg Ansley
Canberra bureau chief
CANBERRA - New Zealand is one of the most competitive tourism markets in the world, ranking above Australia, North America and major European rivals in a new study.
Compiled by the Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research at the University of Western Sydney, the study moved New Zealand up a notch to 10th place in a ranking of 20 major tourism markets.
Australia was bumped to 11th place. However, Phil Young, managing director of Tourism Council Australia, which released the study, attributed this to the slide in the value of the kiwi dollar last year, the period covered by the study.
"The research highlights the fact that Australia competes for tourism business in one of the toughest global markets in the world, and that the industry must consistently strive to increase its competitiveness across the board, from price to service to product," Mr Young said.
The study's findings were based on price comparisons in such key areas as food and beverages, accommodation, tours, shopping, taxis and self-drive cars.
The most competitive countries were almost exclusively Asian: Indonesia, Thailand, China, Malaysia, South Korea, Turkey, Taiwan and Singapore.
New Zealand outranked Australia, Spain, Canada, Italy, the United States, Hong Kong, Germany, Britain, France, Switzerland and Japan.
Mr Young said that while price was only one determining factor in travel decisions, it was important.
"The impact of price on people choosing holidays ... is reflected in this report, which shows that Australia's tourism price competitiveness improved relative to many of the destinations which recorded strong growth in international visitor arrivals, such as the US, Europe and Britain."
However, he warned that Australia's position might slip after GST came in next July, and could be affected by rates of economic growth and currency movements in Asia.
Meanwhile, the Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday indicated that New Zealand could this year outstrip Japan as Australia's largest source of tourists.
In the nine months to September, the number of New Zealanders holidaying across the Tasman rose 13 per cent, equalling Japan's 17 per cent share of Australia's inbound market.
