Kia ora Andrew
“110% loving this!”
“This makes me proud, homesick and inspired all at once”
“The new campaign captures what makes New Zealand stand out in a crowded travel market: soul, not just scenery”
These are just three of many incredible comments we’ve received in response to the launch of our new 100% Pure New Zealand global brand campaign.
I wanted to start this month’s newsletter with an enormous thank you for the incredible feedback, participation and support for this work, which we launched six weeks ago. Your collective response to our campaign has blown us away. We’re so proud to see it out in the wild and have particularly enjoyed seeing so many of you sharing your local spin on the campaign, highlighting the best things to see, do, eat and enjoy in your area. It's an enduring campaign so if you want to jump on board, it's definitely not too late - our industry toolkit has plenty of templates and tips to make this easy.
Another highlight over the past month was connecting with around 400 of you at our recent industry hui online – I hope you found the insights, discussion, and details of Tourism New Zealand’s FY26 strategy over the coming year useful.
Our long-term strategy is focused on growing the value of international tourism and is aligned with the Government’s ambition to double the value of exports by 2034. To enable this, we have an ambitious short-term focus on accelerating international visitor numbers, aiming for 3.9 million by December 2026. To drive this growth, we will prioritise getting more of the 155 million people across our markets who want and have the means to visit New Zealand, into a ‘booking mindset’ and arrivals. This will be a challenge, but I know it’s one that we’re excited to be cracking on with.
Alongside this, our activity across our portfolio of markets continues. Aligned to our 100% Pure New Zealand global brand campaign, we’ve launched our #BeyondTheFilter campaign in India, featuring Bollywood stars and real-life couple Rajkummar Rao and Patralekhaa. India is our #5 market for international visitors and holiday visitor growth is up more than 8 per cent on last year – with enormous potential. The alignment between India’s holiday periods (April-June, October-November) and our shoulder seasons creates valuable year-round tourism opportunities, providing much needed visitor flow during traditionally quieter months while offering Indian visitors the authentic, less-crowded New Zealand experiences they seek.
We know Indian customers want authentic, unfiltered travel experiences that prioritise genuine connection and rejuvenation over curated social content, which this campaign taps into. #BeyondTheFilter is centred around a five-part cinematic mini-series with the couple, showcasing our beautiful landscapes, unique cultural, culinary and wellness experiences, while also highlighting our crisp and settled autumn season. The first episode in the series is out now – watch it here.
Our engagement with the India market is ongoing, and recently 53 tourism businesses were supported to attend Kiwi Link India. Initial feedback from the New Zealand industry has been very positive, due to the mix of appointments with new and existing Indian travel companies, and a series of engagement sessions, enabling greater conversion with partners in market. After Kiwi Link India, we partnered with 32 New Zealand tourism businesses to deliver successful four frontline seller training events across Southeast Asia, which was another highlight for us. Next up is Kiwi Link UK/Europe, North America and China (please note applications have closed).
Finally, I want to acknowledge the resilience of all operators, industry and individuals affected by the recent Nelson Tasman floods. Thank you to Fiona Wilson and her team at Nelson Regional Development Agency who is hard at work supporting the region and the sector’s recovery, and I know they have our collective support too.
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