Tourism New Zealand Woos Australian Skiers

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Tourism New Zealand Woos Australian Skiers

Tourism New Zealand is mounting an early run of television commercials promoting the ski season in a bid to boost visitor arrivals over winter.

The Tourism New Zealand ski commercial goes to air on February 8 (Sunday) and is aimed at tapping into keen skiers and snowboarders who plan and want to book early for their winter holidays.

It is the first time that New Zealand has gone into Australia with ski ads this early in the year.

Tourism New Zealand’s ski commercial will be supported by the Ski Tourism Marketing Network (Ski TMN) which is undertaking print and online advertising in the weeks following the airing of the TV commercial.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said the favourable exchange rates, competitive airfares and relative proximity would make New Zealand an easy and affordable ski holiday for Australians.

Ski TMN Chair, Mike Smith said the network worked closely with Tourism New Zealand in planning the campaign. ‘We consider this ski commercial, starting so early in the season, helps create a sound platform for ongoing industry promotions in the build-up to the winter ski season’.

Australia is the largest single international market for skiers and snow boarders into New Zealand. Last year approximately 70 000 Australians hit the slopes. Typically they enjoy the diversity of winter holiday experiences in the regions, both on and off the slopes. They are a key driver of visitor numbers during the quieter winter months.

Mr Hickton said it was important to keep giving Australians good reasons to visit New Zealand as the global economic downturn was affecting arrivals from many long-haul markets.

Visitor arrivals figures released this week showed Australian arrivals grew 5.6% in December.

Tourism New Zealand had already pulled forward $2 million of spending to fund a summer marketing campaign.

Visits to Tourism New Zealand’s website for January increased by over 28,000 to 92,250 or up 45% on same time last year.

“Overall summer has held up well but there are widespread concerns in the industry that from March things will slow down considerably after March so we are maximising every opportunity where it exists,” Mr Hickton said.

ENDS

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