Tourism: it’s everywhere
9th August 2010 by Andrew Needs, Ottawa | No Comments
Being a proud Wellingtonian and having lived in New Plymouth and Palmerston North at various times, I am familiar with the odd gentle zephyr or two. Ottawa is, by comparison, a pretty windless city, where 20km of wind constitutes a stiff breeze. Last weekend my family and I were down in New Hampshire and drove (yes drove) to the top of Mt Washington. It is famous not so much for its height (a little over 6,000ft) but that it holds the world record for highest recorded wind speed at 264 mph. It was windy when we were up there but nothing close to threatening the record. I am not making any particular point about wind, just interesting.
What struck me though was just how long Mt Washington and the wider environs of New England have been on a well worn tourist trail. Given the size of the US and Canadian economies it is not surprising that the domestic tourism market is huge. In the same way that New Zealand exports most of what it produces by way of fruit, timber, dairy, beef etc, we also rely on visitors from overseas as the major driver for our tourism industry. I’m not a tourism expert, but as an interested observer and keen advocate of New Zealand tourism, my experiences in North America thus far have reminded me as to just how competitive the tourism industry is. There is plenty of interesting stuff to see and do out there. New Zealand has lots of it but we do not have a monopoly, just an unfair advantage!
The fact that New Zealand, in global terms, is a relative newcomer to tourism and tourism promotion, is largely an advantage in that we are fresh, exotic and still a little unknown. Those are valuable attributes which, when combined with our unsurpassed natural beauty, great food and wine and friendly locals, not surprisingly makes us a highly desirable destination. I have yet to meet anyone in the US or Canada who, on finding out I am from New Zealand, has not had one of three responses: they would love to visit; they are planning a visit; they have visited and want to go again. My responses, in order, are: well nothing is stopping you so get down there; have a great time; I am sure you only scratched the surface last time.
We have ridden a popularity wave over recent years which may not last forever. Where we can counter dimunition of New Zealand as a “must see” destination is through ensuring that the quality of visitor engagement is consistent with the story that we (New Zealanders) and previous overseas visitors have passed on to friends and colleagues. With the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand in 2011 we have a huge opportunity to further showcase our country.
I need to stop, it’s making me homesick.
