Thousands of Australian visitors flocked to New Zealand over summer and autumn, including Central Otago, thanks to a successful Tourism New Zealand campaign.

The ‘Everyone Must Go’ campaign encouraged Australians to pick New Zealand for their next holiday over summer, and the results exceeded predictions nationally, with almost 8,000 visitors compared to the predicted 6,750.

Tourism and hospitality minister Louise Upston said the campaign had been a winner, a sentiment backed by Tourism Central Otago head of destination Antz Longman.

“Operators reported a strong summer and autumn season from Australia, which is positive and helped ensure that our trails, wineries, accommodation, and experiences were kept busy through until the winter season,” he said.

“It’s important that we build out our shoulder seasons and leverage activity from Tourism New Zealand and work with our neighbours to keep them front of mind.”

Louise said a key part of the campaign’s success were the deals the tourism industry came to the party with. 

“This team approach showed we can deliver great results for the sector when government and industry are joined up and working towards the same goals.”

More than 800 deals from 450 operators across accommodation, transport and experiences were available during the campaign.

The initial $500,000 campaign spend delivered a solid return on investment, leading to an additional $300,000 to give the campaign a further boost.

Antz said it was great to see increased activity in the market from Tourism New Zealand as that added to the activity and promotional work by operators across the country. 

“Australia is our key international market and now with two international airports (Dunedin and Queenstown), it is a key driver of visitation to both Central Otago and the wider lower South.”

Last week TCO was in-market in Australia alongside its Southern Way Regional Tourism Operation (RTO) partners and the Southern Airports Alliance, highlighting the new Gold Coast to Dunedin route. 

Antz said they were able to showcase how visitors can fly in one airport and out another to drive longer stays and regional dispersal. 

“This activity was part of our MBIE-funded campaign activity to drive seasonal visitation.”

The group presented updates to key travel agents helping increase their understanding of how to sell multi-day itineraries across the South to consumers, and how easy it was to connect from the Gold Coast to Dunedin, and on to the wider regions.

“Industry collaboration and alliances are one of the building blocks of the Central Otago Destination Management Plan, and it’s great to be working with our neighbours and supported by MBIE to drive increased awareness of our offerings, which in time helps to drive continued visitation,” Antz said.

*Specific data in terms of International Regional Visitor numbers is limited as there are delays in release of data. Queenstown Airport experienced almost 60,000 Australian arrivals through March, April, and May, which was an increase of 14 percent on the same period last year, outpacing the New Zealand average of seven percent.”

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