Burton closes Lord of the Rings exhibition in Singapore

Speaking at the closing of the Lord of the Rings exhibition at the Singapore Science Centre, Tourism Minster Mark Burton said that a strong government/industry partnership underpins the sector’s achievements.

“There is no question that the Lord of the Rings has been an enormous boost for our tourism industry. However, no one event—no matter how huge—can form the basis of a truly successful tourism sector. Since 1999, this Labour-led government has been working in partnership with the industry to develop and maintain a truly sustainable tourism sector. Our goal is to balance tourism’s obvious economic benefits with the care, protection, and enhancement of our environments, culture, and heritage.

“In this same period, Tourism New Zealand developed the successful 100% Pure New Zealand campaign, deepening and broadening our image overseas, and maximising the impact of our message to our target market. Today, 100% Pure has won numerous international marketing awards, and it continues to drive home internationally the image of New Zealand as an authentic, unique, prestigious destination.

“The Lord of the Rings certainly provided us with some wonderful opportunities—all the more so because we already had a strong tourism strategy and marketing plan in place. The trilogy fitted perfectly with our goals. With our pristine environment as a backdrop, we were able to showcase New Zealand’s originality, creativity and, above all, our quality. The Lord of the Rings represented all of those things.

“It was an audacious undertaking on a global scale—our beautiful little country daring to be a world leader. It was about state-of-the-art special effects, and exquisite creative design. These were the messages we wanted to convey about our nation as a whole—and that’s what our visitors can expect.

“If New Zealand is going to continue to be one of the world’s most sought-after, premiere destinations, the sector will have to be courageous enough to know what it does well, and do it. No destination can be all things to all people. Instead, we need to be ambitious enough to hold our nerve, and not be tempted to deviate from our commitment to quality,” said Mark Burton.

“New Zealand can and does deliver world-class tourism product. We should never settle for anything less.”

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