Business Bulletin : November 2019

Compiled by Steph Kendall

In this bulletin:

Avocado Congress Coming to New Zealand
Tourism New Zealand Releases Annual Report 2018/19
Late Show Boost for New Zealand
Tourism Attraction Programme Launched
International Tourism Forecast Update
Business Centre - Businesses for Sale
Tourism Site of the Month: Unique Whanganui River Experience

Avocado Congress Coming to New Zealand

New Zealand has won its bid to host the 10th World Avocado Congress in 2023. NZ Avocado attended the World Avocado Congress 2019 in Medellin, Colombia and was one of three countries to put forward a bid to win the hosting rights for the 2023 event.

New Zealand who contributes 2% of global avocado production and is the world's ninth largest avocado exporter, was up against Mexico, the largest avocado exporter in the world and Kenya, the sixth largest exporter of avocados globally.

In a video message, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern invited voters to come and experience New Zealand's natural beauty, unique adventures, the country's friendly people, and to see first-hand New Zealand's incredible avocado industry. She encouraged attendees at the Medellin event to choose New Zealand as the destination for the 2023 WAC.

It will be the first time this global flagship event will be held in New Zealand. The congress attracts over 3,000 delegates comprising some of the brightest minds in avocados including growers, researchers, marketers, tech innovators and investors.

Tourism New Zealand Releases Annual Report 2018/19

Tourism New Zealand's annual report found that in the year ending June 2019 international visitors spent $11.2 billion. There was continued growth in visitor numbers up 2.7% to 3.88 million, with holiday visitor numbers at almost 2 million. Regional spend increased by 4.9% and international visitors arriving in the off-peak months was up 0.6%.

Tourism New Zealand's Chief Executive Stephen England Hall says Tourism New Zealand is working hard to ensure the sector addresses the global challenges ahead and continues to benefit communities.

View Tourism New Zealand Annual Report 2018/2019.

Late Show Boost for New Zealand

American comedian and Lord of the Rings fan, Stephen Colbert has been posting about his grand time in New Zealand while he is in the country filming segments for his popular show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

The talk show host came to New Zealand at the personal invitation of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, when she appeared as a surprise guest on the Late Show in September. Colbert was personally greeted at Auckland Airport by Ardern, as she'd promised on his show.

Tourism NZ spokesperson Lauren Vosper said the airport welcome was filmed and would be part of the segments produced for the Late Show, which will air next month. The Late Show attracts an average nightly audience of 3.1 million.

Tourism Attraction Programme Launched

The Tourism Attraction Programme is a new cross-agency government initiative that aims to boost private investment into New Zealand's tourism attractions. Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis launched the Programme last month unveiling a prospectus for potential investors and the supporting New Zealand Visitor Activity Forecast data tool, which provides both international and domestic visitor forecasts for all regions and over 60 visitor activities.

"This Programme will help the Government make progress on our goal to enrich New Zealand through sustainable tourism growth. As our largest export earner, tourism plays a pivotal role in the economy and so it's important we are committed to attracting high-quality investment in the sector," Kelvin Davis said.

"This also feeds into our New Zealand-Aotearoa Government Tourism Strategy as it helps strengthen our stewardship of the tourism system, supports our investment framework and has a specific focus on tourism attractions."

New Zealand Trade and Enterprise is leading the cross-agency programme in partnership with MBIE, Tourism New Zealand and DOC.

Invest in New Zealand Tourism Prospectus - This prospectus summarises key information and independent forecasts in relation to the New Zealand tourism sector. It provides a snapshot of international and domestic data, cut by activity and region, to provide a fact base for tourism investment decisions in New Zealand.
New Zealand Visitor Attraction Forecast - This tool provides industry investors with a publicly available data forecast across 63 activities. It also encompasses all of New Zealand's diverse regions where tourism plays an important economic role. Economic forecast experts, Fresh Information developed the 20 million data point forecast for both international and domestic visitors.

International Tourism Forecast Update

Key points arising from the 2019 version of the international tourism forecasts by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment below:

Visitor arrivals to New Zealand are expected to grow 4.0 per cent a year, reaching 5.1 million visitors in 2025 - from 3.9 million in 2018. Total international spend is expected to reach $15.0 billion in 2025, up 34 per cent from 2018.
Australia is New Zealand's largest visitor market, providing more than 1.5 million visitors in 2018. The forecasts show that this market will continue to be healthy and looks set to grow by 19 per cent by 2025.
Another key market for New Zealand is China. China visitor numbers are expected to grow 55 per cent in the forecast period, increasing from 449,000 in 2018 to reach 696,000 by 2025.
Australia will remain the largest market by spend, though Chinese spend will reduce the gap by 2025.

To read the updated forecast for 2019 -2025, visit the MBIE website.

Business Centre - Businesses for Sale

One in seven New Zealanders is already working in the New Zealand tourism industry. If you are one of these or are interested in moving into the tourism industry, why not check out some of the tourism businesses currently for sale in New Zealand.

Top Tourism Site of the Month

This month's Top Tourism Site Award goes to Unique Whanganui River Experience.

uniquewhanganuiriver.co.nz

If this website doesn't persuade you to jump into a canoe and explore the beautiful Whanganui River on the west coast of the North Island, then nothing will! Click on "See Experiences" to get a taster of the trip in the YouTube video, which has a lovely happy and fun vibe to it. Animated images and text continue to catch the eye and keep the reader engaged as they scroll through the information about the different tours available - rapids, paddling, a day off and lots of yummy (non-dried) food!

Nominate a Site

If you think a New Zealand travel or tourism website deserves a 'Top Tourism Site Award', let us know about it. (View further information about the award criteria).

About the Top Tourism Site Award

The New Zealand Tourism Guide confers a Top Tourism Site Award to websites that:

Enhance New Zealand as a travel destination
Publish useful and informative content
Are laid out in a professional and aesthetically-pleasing manner
Are designed effectively for the World Wide Web
Demonstrate easy functionality, interactivity, originality, outstanding graphic quality and marketing reach.

We welcome any feedback — send your comments to: news@tourism.net.nz

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