Tourism Business Magazine: August –September 2012

It was suggested recently that our industry was fragmented.  This isn’t the dairy industry with a uniform product and sell price. Tourism represents a few thousand operators, none of which offer the same product.  We’re all competing in the same market place and quite often for the same business – each trying to make a dollar.  While there is a degree of diversification or fragmentation in our industry, it doesn’t mean that we are broken – we’re not, and this is a message that we need to send to the policy makers and parliamentarians.

During a period of difficult trading, the Tourism Export Council membership has grown.  This is a strong indicator that the industry and our members recognise the value in solidarity and that as individual operators, we need to look at the bigger picture. We can learn from working with each other successfully and can certainly achieve more collectively that we can as individuals.  If we were truly a fragmented industry, representative organisations such as the Tourism Export Council would be dead in the water – and I’m glad to say, we’re not.

The NZ Herald quoted an industry leader recently as saying “the industry had to accept it had done a done a poor job of promoting New Zealand and needed to do something about that”.  This is tough talk and although we can always do more collectively, our marketing has been smart and for the most part cohesive.  Tourism New Zealand have lead this and have increased presence off-shore, are engaging in multiple channels and actively pursuing new market opportunities in Asia. Coordinated successful famil programs have continued to support our highest yielding markets and have led the New Zealand trade off-shore to participate in various trade and kiwilink road shows.  As operators, we back this up with our own marketing dollars and activities that take our members to all corners of the globe.  Promoting first, destination New Zealand and secondly our own products.

But there is still room for improvement.  The industry and ‘all its partners’ need to be sure we’re kicking goals for the same team and have the same objectives.  The wider industry needs more opportunity to communicate internally to understand and agree what the immediate and long term objectives, opportunities and risks are for New Zealand tourism. Then we can agree how best to manage that information.

I look forward to catching up with you all at Conference 2012 on the West Coast.

Martin Horgan – President