21 September 2012
Programmes drive over 20% growth, with more to be gained by developing air capacity.
Campaign to focus on promoting Free and Independent Travellers (FIT) and Premium New Zealand tourism products to build markets
Auckland Airport today announced it will look to double investment from joint industry initiatives into developing markets, as its programmes drive over 20% growth in key markets like Indonesia. The programmes of channel development, above the line promotion and social media/PR combined with shifts in peak season, saw a 79% growth in Indonesian traffic during August 2012.
Glenn Wedlock, General Manager Aeronautical Commercial for Auckland Airport, said, “We have had a great response to a number of initiatives in markets such as Indonesia and Taiwan aimed at building FIT/Premium markets but we can do even more to tap into growth markets to deliver on the economic opportunity for New Zealand.”
Mr Wedlock said, “We are looking at investing in building access, relationships and product innovation now to deliver great outcomes in growth markets such as Indonesia and India. Indonesia’s economy is growing so rapidly that according to Citibank it will be the world’s fourth largest by 2040. It is one of our nearest markets and its GDP is already ahead of Australia our biggest travel market. So we have an incredible opportunity to grow Indonesia into a market worth in excess of $100 million to our visitor economy.”
Global tourism trends now indicate an increasing number of travellers from “emerging” markets as the world economy shifts towards Asia and Auckland Airport through its Ambition 2020 programme is seeking to drive joint industry investment programmes of over a million dollars in the next 18 months to ensure New Zealand is well positioned against the competition.
The Times of India reported that 50 million Indians are expected to travel overseas by 2020. In recognising this trend, Auckland Airport has run a series of workshops and promotions to develop New Zealand’s position as it competes with countries such as Australia and South Africa for the affluent Indian travel market.
Mr Wedlock said, “New Zealand enjoys a fantastic tourism reputation but we cannot sit back and simply expect the growth to arrive. Competing destinations such as South Africa are already targeting India and as a result they have enjoyed growth of over 25% and are now seeing around 100,000 visitors per annum from India while New Zealand has been flat at around 30,000.
“We believe we can at least double that number by 2020 to 60,000 visitors, but the industry may need to intervene with step-change programmes such as our recent honeymoon joint programme with Tourism New Zealand. Other countries like Australia are already targeting air capacity connections of over 345,000 seats to also drive growth to 300,000 arrivals by 2020.
“That’s our aim; to work together with the industry on targeting emerging high value markets and bold initiatives to ensure we build relationships and channels in market to deliver value to airlines and the visitor economy.”
Ends
For further information, please contact:
Richard Llewellyn
Corporate relations manager
+64 9 255 9089
+64 27 477 6120