New Zealand tourism sees threat if climate change deters long-haul flyers

Monday, 30 September 2019

The Tiaki Promise gives domestic and international tourists a lesson in travel etiquette and pushes the sustainability message.

A report on New Zealand's tourism industry says concerns about carbon emissions pose a threat to long haul travel and the industry's future.

A Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) report on Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) released on Monday highlighted the challenges it will face.

They include softening international growth, fierce competition for customers, and the risk of carbon emissions affecting travel choices, particularly for long haul trips.

Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis said the latter issue had prompted 'immediate action to understand the impact climate concerns have on potential visitors choosing New Zealand as a destination.'

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It will be the subject of research led by TNZ in partnership with MBIE, Auckland and Christchurch Airports, Air New Zealand, Tourism Holdings and consulting firm McKinsey & Company, most of whom were involved in a 2016 report on funding tourism infrastructure.

Davis said MBIE's independent report into TNZ confirmed the government agency was doing a good job of promoting the country in overseas markets.

But it also found growing angst about climate change, environmental degradation and wider sustainability practices all represented a threat to international travel in general, and to New Zealand in particular.

Tourism New Zealand's 100% Pure Welcome campaign has been warned it could be risky if grumpy Kiwis feeling overrun by tourists are less welcoming than in the past.

Awareness of carbon emissions was predicted to have a significant effect on travel choices and given New Zealand's distance from most source markets, 'the potential implications for our international tourism industry is not to be ignored.'

The report also addressed the rapid growth in international visitor arrivals - which rose almost 40 per cent between 2014 and 2018 - resulting in tension between locals and visitors in some regions where infrastructure failed to cope.

It said resistance to the growth in international visitor numbers and their perceived effect on the day-to day-lives of residents had eroded tourism's 'social licence.'

That would continue unless central and local government and the private sector worked together to mitigate those negative impacts which included road safety, freedom camping and pressure on roading and water systems.

The report said TNZ could provide early warning signals of where problems were likely to emerge, and it sounded a note of caution over future use of the 100% Pure New Zealand branding.

While it was never intended to be an environmental statement, reliance on landscapes in TNZ's international marketing had inevitably seen it interpreted that way, both on and offshore.

Concern about the deterioration of New Zealand's environment, coupled with global sustainability concerns, made it more important than ever to broaden the branding, the report said.

Although TNZ had repositioned 100% Pure to refer to a welcoming friendly culture, there were risks attached to taking this approach at a time when not everyone was well disposed towards more visitors.

'While the majority of New Zealanders will be warm and welcoming, the attitude of some towards visitors, particularly in tourism hotspots where growth in tourism is creating tensions between local and visitor populations, may be less predictable,' said the MBIE report.

It also recommended TNZ work more closely with New Zealand Māori tourism to ensure Māori culture was appropriately incorporated into its marketing, review its efforts to promote visitation to the regions, and provide the industry with more information about the preference of domestic as well as international visitors.

Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts said extending TNZ's role into the local tourism arena was a radical change of direction, but one operators would welcome given a lack of data on this segment of the market.

'TNZ's mandate has always specifically excluded domestic tourism, but it has a wealth of knowledge and expertise that can help us understand the motivations of domestic visitors.'