Tourism New Zealand is looking to attract high value travellers from India who are seeking unique experiences with a strong connection to people, culture and nature. Indian arrivals to New Zealand doubled with almost a 15% CAGR in the last 5 years. Gregg Wafelbakker, General Manager – Asia, Tourism New Zealand, talks on the new campaign, India market as well as readiness of the destination to welcome travellers. Excerpts from interview:
You have recently launched your global campaign ‘If You Seek’. What is the expectation from the campaign?
The campaign is actually the first global campaign since the pandemic. The aim is to approach the markets differently. If You Seek is talking about an audience of the curious few who wants to explore. It comes off the back of inclusive tourism. So, what we are looking for is to appeal to the audience who want to take their time in New Zealand to look around and explore more regions, see things that are unique and interact with New Zealanders, and understand culture and share cultural experiences. So, it’s a little bit different to what was done in the past before. We certainly think it’s going to appeal given some of the trends that we’ve seen in travel behavior post pandemic.
Is the campaign ‘If you seek’ over and above the campaign 100% Pure New Zealand?
100% Pure New Zealand campaign is our umbrella campaign. ‘If you Seek’ is underneath the 100% Pure New Zealand Campaign.
You have connected with some B2B and B2C player. What is your marketing and promotional strategy for India market?
Indian market is really a priority emerging market, even before the pandemic and is one of the fastest growing markets. We had about 67, 000 arrivals from India in 2019. In the last 5 years, Indian arrivals to New Zealand doubled with almost a 15% CAGR.
One of the great things about an Indian visitor to New Zealand is that they stay for a really long time, in fact the longest length of stay compared to any other of our Asia source markets, 14 days. While they’re in New Zealand, they do a lot of activity and so they really sort of immerse themselves in the markets, the towns and cities and the countryside, which is amazing.
As we look at the Indian market post pandemic, we really want to leverage the really strong base that we started from. So, we are working with trade partners like Thomas Cook, Kulin Kumar Holidays Makemytrip on conversion campaign to convert the pent-up demand that we’ve seen from during the pandemic.
What sort of public policy and restrictions still there in New Zealand for the Indian visitors?
Now the COVID restrictions have almost totally lifted. So, there is no requirement of mask, pre departure testing and no need for vaccination prior to coming into the country. The one check still exists is on upon arrival into New Zealand you’re given some rapid antigen tests and you’re encouraged to take a test on day zero and Day 5.
What sort of Indian arrival numbers that you are looking at in 2023 and 2024?
We haven’t set ourselves a target number of visitor arrivals from India. We’ll look to set targets slightly differently. We are looking for high-quality visitors who comes and spends money in New Zealand. We also want visitors to travel around New Zealand, go to more places, interacts with New Zealanders. We want conscious traveler, a traveller that’s considers the environment regenerative. Regenerative travel is a very important trend for tourism generally and certainly for us in the future. The measurement for us is going to show up a little bit differently.
Have you added some new tourism products in your portfolio, promoting new destinations, new areas of New Zealand in the India market?
No, we haven’t actually. It’s because Indian visitors to New Zealand before the pandemic actually went for lot of parts of New Zealand, so right from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island and many places in between. This is because every visitor is a bit different. They look for different experiences. Some want more adventure such as bungee jumps and white water rafting and jet boating of course. Some are looking for more of a food and wine experience and less adventure. Therefore, the Marlborough Sounds or Hawke’s Bay caters very well for them. We haven’t created new product specifically for the Indian market because I think the products that we have already are doing a really good job servicing the needs of Indian visitors.
How is the VISA situation and air connectivity between India and New Zealand?
The processing hasn’t changed since the pandemic. The airline connectivity has changed after the pandemic. In 2019, majority of India visiting New Zealand came through Singapore, Malaysia, China and Thailand. A direct flight will be preferable. Not having direct flight is definitely a barrier to getting back to travel. We are talking with airline partners like Singapore Airlines. We expect to hold the market strongly even if there is no direct flight.
Murari Mohan Jha
