Latest news with #AucklandAirportTourismForum
Scoop
07-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
North Island Is Where It's At: The Plan To Win Over Hearts Of Tourists With First-of-its-kind Alliance
Press Release – Auckland Airport 15 tourism leaders team up to create a new partnership aimed at shining a light on the North Island's tourism offerings that stretch from Martinborough to the Far North. The new North Island tourism promotion collective seeks to accelerate the return of visitation to New Zealand, with Australia and China inbound back in growth mode, and the North America to AKL route now fully recovered Auckland Airport seen an 11% increase in international visitor arrivals to December 2024. Visitor arrivals into AKL are now at 84% of 2019 levels. From the sub-tropical beaches of the Far North to the vineyards of Martinborough and the cultural experiences of Rotorua in between, tourism leaders are joining forces to make a strong play for holidaymakers to experience more of the visitor offerings right across the North Island. A partnership of 15 tourism organisations from around the North Island, this new alliance will be aimed at generating interest from key tourism markets, including Australia, North America and China, with a wider range of sights and experiences. Announced at the Auckland Airport Tourism Forum in Rotorua, ahead of the official opening of TRENZ 2025, Auckland Airport's Chief Executive Carrie Hurihanganui said the new partnership between the 15 tourism organisations – the first of its kind for regional tourism organisations in the north – aims to bring regions together to highlight and connect the wide range of destination offerings across the North Island to overseas visitors. 'It's about leveraging our collective tourism pulling power. Individually, each region has a fabulous offering but we're wanting to work together to help international visitors to better connect those dots to experience everything that is wonderful and unique about the North Island,' said Ms Hurihanganui. 'As the gateway airport for many visitors to New Zealand, we're really proud to come together with Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, RotoruaNZ and the other regional tourism organisations to develop and support this partnership. 'It builds on the work we've already done with Tātaki Auckland Unlimited and RotoruaNZ over the past year to attract back more Australian visitors with a dual region North Island destination proposition. We're starting to see that effort flow through to an increase in Australian visitation, which are building back from 83 per cent of pre-pandemic volumes last February to 92 per cent recovered one year on. That's an additional 110,000 Australian tourists.' In 2019 Australian visitors made up 40% of all visitor arrivals to New Zealand. This has now increased to 42% (as of December 2025). Tātaki Auckland Unlimited's Destination Director Annie Dundas said: 'This MOU is a big step forward in helping us strengthen our international presence. The travel landscape is changing, and we need to be smarter about how we show up overseas to sell our respective regions. This partnership allows us to be clearer in our proposition, which in turn will make it easier to meet the needs of our travel partners overseas and ultimately future travellers. 'Our first activity will take place in September in Australia with the North Island Showcase, seeing over 60 North Island tourism operators connect with key Australian travel sellers at two events in Sydney and Melbourne. We see this as a massive opportunity, and we're excited to be part of this collaborative effort,' said Ms Dundas. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed today at the forum, with participating regional tourism leaders. The full list includes (in geographical order): Northland Inc Tātaki Auckland Unlimited Destination Hauraki Coromandel Hamilton & Waikato Tourism Tourism Bay of Plenty RotoruaNZ Tairawhiti Gisborne Destination Great Lake Taupo Visit Ruapehu Venture Taranaki Hawkes Bay Tourism Whanganui and Partners Central Economic Development Agency Destination Wairarapa WellingtonNZ A thank you to Wellington Airport and Hamilton Airport for supporting. RotoruaNZ Chief Executive Andrew Wilson said: 'This partnership is a bold and necessary step forward for the North Island's visitor economy. By working together, we move beyond competition and into collaboration – showcasing the sheer breadth of experiences available in our part of Aotearoa, from coastlines to culture, from wellness to adventure. 'RotoruaNZ is proud to stand alongside our regional whānau to support a stronger, more connected North Island proposition. This will not only help international visitors see more of what's on offer, it will encourage longer stays, more meaningful travel, and deeper connections with our people and places. Together, we're making the North Island a compelling destination in its own right.' Connectivity Ms Hurihanganui said tourism is a core contributor to New Zealand's economy and is still in recovery mode since Covid. 'New Zealand's tourism is still a little behind compared to the rest of the world. We're confident it will catch up but it's going to take some collaborative effort from the industry, like what we've announced today, to get there. While there's a lot of uncertainty in markets overseas, particularly the United States, there are still plenty of opportunities. 'Demand over summer was strong, with seven airlines flying the AKL to North America route, which has now fully recovered. 'But the reality is that we're operating in a highly competitive market for airline seat capacity and as a long haul destination we need to make sure that as a tourism sector we're working together to drive traveller demand. Auckland Airport teams are working hard to show our airline partners the value in connecting to New Zealand, doing our bit to grow our country's economic ambitions through tourism,' Ms Hurihanganui added. As at 31 March 2025, AKL achieved a record 379,000 US travellers in the year to February 2025. This compares to 364,000 US visitors the year before, a strong year for travel on this route after the surge during the Kiwi summer of 2023/2024. Chinese visitor arrivals into New Zealand were up 22% year ending February 2025. However, tourists from China are down 44% compared to over 2019. Based on average Chinese visitor spend this gap in arrivals represents a loss of $1.23 billion of international visitor spend. Total international visitor arrivals into AKL are now 84% of 2019 levels. Each year $35.1 billion of economic output is generated from international and domestic travel and tourism by Auckland Airport aviation connections, alongside $26 billion in annual trade flowing through the airport. Auckland Airport currently has 26 airlines flying to 42 destinations.
Scoop
07-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
North Island Is Where It's At: The Plan To Win Over Hearts Of Tourists With First-of-its-kind Alliance
15 tourism leaders team up to create a new partnership aimed at shining a light on the North Island's tourism offerings that stretch from Martinborough to the Far North. The new North Island tourism promotion collective seeks to accelerate the return of visitation to New Zealand, with Australia and China inbound back in growth mode, and the North America to AKL route now fully recovered Auckland Airport seen an 11% increase in international visitor arrivals to December 2024. Visitor arrivals into AKL are now at 84% of 2019 levels. From the sub-tropical beaches of the Far North to the vineyards of Martinborough and the cultural experiences of Rotorua in between, tourism leaders are joining forces to make a strong play for holidaymakers to experience more of the visitor offerings right across the North Island. A partnership of 15 tourism organisations from around the North Island, this new alliance will be aimed at generating interest from key tourism markets, including Australia, North America and China, with a wider range of sights and experiences. Announced at the Auckland Airport Tourism Forum in Rotorua, ahead of the official opening of TRENZ 2025, Auckland Airport's Chief Executive Carrie Hurihanganui said the new partnership between the 15 tourism organisations – the first of its kind for regional tourism organisations in the north – aims to bring regions together to highlight and connect the wide range of destination offerings across the North Island to overseas visitors. 'It's about leveraging our collective tourism pulling power. Individually, each region has a fabulous offering but we're wanting to work together to help international visitors to better connect those dots to experience everything that is wonderful and unique about the North Island,' said Ms Hurihanganui. 'As the gateway airport for many visitors to New Zealand, we're really proud to come together with Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, RotoruaNZ and the other regional tourism organisations to develop and support this partnership. 'It builds on the work we've already done with Tātaki Auckland Unlimited and RotoruaNZ over the past year to attract back more Australian visitors with a dual region North Island destination proposition. We're starting to see that effort flow through to an increase in Australian visitation, which are building back from 83 per cent of pre-pandemic volumes last February to 92 per cent recovered one year on. That's an additional 110,000 Australian tourists.' In 2019 Australian visitors made up 40% of all visitor arrivals to New Zealand. This has now increased to 42% (as of December 2025). Tātaki Auckland Unlimited's Destination Director Annie Dundas said: 'This MOU is a big step forward in helping us strengthen our international presence. The travel landscape is changing, and we need to be smarter about how we show up overseas to sell our respective regions. This partnership allows us to be clearer in our proposition, which in turn will make it easier to meet the needs of our travel partners overseas and ultimately future travellers. 'Our first activity will take place in September in Australia with the North Island Showcase, seeing over 60 North Island tourism operators connect with key Australian travel sellers at two events in Sydney and Melbourne. We see this as a massive opportunity, and we're excited to be part of this collaborative effort,' said Ms Dundas. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed today at the forum, with participating regional tourism leaders. The full list includes (in geographical order): Northland Inc Tātaki Auckland Unlimited Destination Hauraki Coromandel Hamilton & Waikato Tourism Tourism Bay of Plenty RotoruaNZ Tairawhiti Gisborne Destination Great Lake Taupo Visit Ruapehu Venture Taranaki Hawkes Bay Tourism Whanganui and Partners Central Economic Development Agency Destination Wairarapa WellingtonNZ A thank you to Wellington Airport and Hamilton Airport for supporting. RotoruaNZ Chief Executive Andrew Wilson said: 'This partnership is a bold and necessary step forward for the North Island's visitor economy. By working together, we move beyond competition and into collaboration – showcasing the sheer breadth of experiences available in our part of Aotearoa, from coastlines to culture, from wellness to adventure. 'RotoruaNZ is proud to stand alongside our regional whānau to support a stronger, more connected North Island proposition. This will not only help international visitors see more of what's on offer, it will encourage longer stays, more meaningful travel, and deeper connections with our people and places. Together, we're making the North Island a compelling destination in its own right.' Connectivity Ms Hurihanganui said tourism is a core contributor to New Zealand's economy and is still in recovery mode since Covid. 'New Zealand's tourism is still a little behind compared to the rest of the world. We're confident it will catch up but it's going to take some collaborative effort from the industry, like what we've announced today, to get there. While there's a lot of uncertainty in markets overseas, particularly the United States, there are still plenty of opportunities. 'Demand over summer was strong, with seven airlines flying the AKL to North America route, which has now fully recovered. 'But the reality is that we're operating in a highly competitive market for airline seat capacity and as a long haul destination we need to make sure that as a tourism sector we're working together to drive traveller demand. Auckland Airport teams are working hard to show our airline partners the value in connecting to New Zealand, doing our bit to grow our country's economic ambitions through tourism,' Ms Hurihanganui added. As at 31 March 2025, AKL achieved a record 379,000 US travellers in the year to February 2025. This compares to 364,000 US visitors the year before, a strong year for travel on this route after the surge during the Kiwi summer of 2023/2024. Chinese visitor arrivals into New Zealand were up 22% year ending February 2025. However, tourists from China are down 44% compared to over 2019. Based on average Chinese visitor spend this gap in arrivals represents a loss of $1.23 billion of international visitor spend. Total international visitor arrivals into AKL are now 84% of 2019 levels. Each year $35.1 billion of economic output is generated from international and domestic travel and tourism by Auckland Airport aviation connections, alongside $26 billion in annual trade flowing through the airport. Auckland Airport currently has 26 airlines flying to 42 destinations.
RNZ News
05-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Collaboration key to showcasing North Island tourism destinations
Overseas tourists only account for 20-30 percent of visitors to Northland. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf North Island regions hope a new collaboration will encourage more tourists to explore, stay longer and spend more. Three airports and 15 North Island regional tourism organisations have banded together to share resources as part of a new Memorandum of Understanding. The partnership was officially signed at the Auckland Airport Tourism Forum in Rotorua on Monday. Most of Northland's visitors are domestic, with overseas tourists only accounting for 20-30 percent of visitors, but Northland Inc. head of destination Tania Burt hoped that would change by working with other tourism leaders. "There's really no reason why we should get more international visitors, so to collaborate with our friends at Auckland Airport and other regions as well, who have strong international visitation, will boost the visibility of Northland." Burt wanted to see more tourists in Northland year-round, so businesses had more consistency, but promoting a region wasn't easy, when tourism funding was often tight and only getting tighter. She was pleased the different regions would share their insights and marketing to promote the North Island as a destination. "When it comes to international marketing, you have to be really smart about where you invest, because people don't have spare marketing dollars lying around. Regional tourism organisation, businesses, even Tourism New Zealand are under constraints." Collaborating was a way to showcase the regions better and create the positive change they wanted, she said. The potential for the North Island was huge. "One thing we like to work by is, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together, so it's time for the North Island to go and Northland has to be part of that." The partnership will initially focus on three key visitor markets - Australia, the US and China. Later this year, more than 60 tourism operators will meet with Australian travel sellers across the ditch at a North Island showcase. RotoruaNZ chief executive Andrew Wilson said competing against other overseas destinations for visitors was hard. "When you go in to a marketplace like Australia, where we're traditionally gone in all independently, we're all fighting for a voice and time with those buyers. Going in collectively, we've got more scale. "We've got more ability basically to encourage those buyers through the door." The North Island had a lot of room to grow and the partnership aligned well with the government's push for more tourist boots on the ground, he said. They would save time and money at a time when belts were tightening. "We've all got to continue to focus in terms of how we do more with less and this is definitely a really strong option in terms of how we do that." TRENZ - the country's largest tourism business event - kicks off in Rotorua on Tuesday. Rotorua was already buzzing before the event, which was last held in there in 2019. Wilson said people would be hard pressed to find an available room in town this week, because hotel bookings were so strong, and other businesses were also benefiting from events and more visitors to the area. "There's a huge amount of business done at TRENZ, which will have an impact obviously for the next three, four, five years in terms of how some of those itineraries are put together." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
05-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
North Island tourism operators 'move beyond competition' with new alliance
More than 60 tourism operators will highlight the North Island's tourism hotspots like Rotorua at an Australian showcase later this year. Photo: 123RF North Island tourism leaders are banding together in a new alliance, in a bid to get more visitor's boots on the ground and into the regions. The Memorandum of Understanding has been signed at the Auckland Airport Tourism Forum in Rotorua, ahead of this week's TRENZ tourism business conference. The partnership involves three airports and 15 regional tourism organisations. Auckland Airport chief customer officer Scott Tasker said regions were already competing against overseas destinations to attract visitors, so this would be a more coordinated approach to promote the North Island as a destination. "The goal behind that is to encourage more visitors to explore more of the North Island, to spread around and to stay longer and increase their spend across our regions, and that's about shifting visitors from perhaps fly-in, fly-out into deeper more rewarding journeys across regions," Tasker said. This partnership - which was the first of its kind for North Island regional tourism organisations - would combine their insights, networks and marketing and use their collective pulling powers to entice more travellers, he said. They would target the Australian, US and Chinese visitors markets. Later this year, more than 60 tourism operators will connect with Australian travel sellers across the ditch at a North Island showcase. Total visitors arrivals had recovered to more than 80 percent of pre-pandemic levels in the year to December. Auckland Airport had seen an 11 percent increase in overseas visitor arrivals year-on-year to last December, and overall, the airport had recovered to about 84 percent of pre-pandemic levels. Tasker said they were trying to close that gap and their goal was for the country's total visitor arrivals to be back at pre-Covid levels by the end of summer 2026, he said. Tātaki Auckland Unlimited destination director Annie Dundas said this partnership helped them to strengthen their international presence. "The travel landscape is changing, and we need to be smarter about how we show up overseas to sell our respective regions," she said. "This partnership allows us to be clearer in our proposition, which in turn will make it easier to meet the needs of our travel partners overseas and ultimately future travellers." RotoruaNZ chief executive Andrew Wilson called the partnership a "bold and necessary step forward". "By working together, we move beyond competition and into collaboration - showcasing the sheer breadth of experiences available in our part of Aotearoa, from coastlines to culture, from wellness to adventure," he said. Auckland Airport chief executive Carrie Hurihanganui said the tourism industry was still in recovery mode and a little bit behind compared to the rest of the world. While she was confident the industry would catch up, she said it was going to take a collaborative approach "The reality is that we're operating in a highly competitive market for airline seat capacity and as a long haul destination we need to make sure that as a tourism sector we're working together to drive traveller demand," she said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
