The Indian tourism market is New Zealand's tenth largest in terms of visitor arrivals – but faces a number of challenges before future growth can be realised.Kiran Nambiar, Tourism NZ's regional manager for India and South East Asia, told NBR that a
The Indian tourism market is New Zealand’s tenth largest in terms of visitor arrivals – but faces a number of challenges before future growth can be realised.
Kiran Nambiar, Tourism NZ’s regional manager for India and South East Asia, told NBR that a lack of air capacity poses the biggest challenge to near-term growth.
Total arrivals from India were up 16% to 27,842 visitors in the year to August and are expected to grow by another 7-10% in the next 18 months.
“But India will deliver 20% to 30% growth in visitor arrivals to New Zealand for 4-5 years consecutively once air connectivity improves,” Mr Nambiar said.
Jetstar is expected to add daily flights from Singapore to Auckland from March 2011 and, as reported in the Malaysian media but not yet confirmed, Air Asia X is considering adding flights from Malaysia to Christchurch.
Changing perceptions
Attracting Tourism NZ's target market of discerning, affluent Indian travellers is a second key challenge, Mr Nambiar said.
“One of the challenges we face in-market is changing the perception and image of New Zealand as ‘rural’ and ‘full of sheep’.”
He described the recent World of Wearable Arts (WOW) event, held annually in Wellington, as an “ideal” vehicle to counter this perception.
This year’s WOW event featured record participation from Indian designers, with supreme award winner ‘Loops’ among 23 selected entries from India.
Tourism NZ has developed a strong working relationship with the Fashion Design Council of India since identifying WOW as a key event to promote in international markets in 2004.
An annual nation-wide student design competition run by the Council, with support from Tourism NZ, has run in India since 2005, with winners dispatched to the WOW awards in Wellington.
This year’s WOW supreme award to ‘Loops’, by Indian students Yogesh Chaudhary and Manas Barve, comes as a “shot in the arm” to Tourism NZ’s programme, Mr Nambiar said.
Tourism NZ is also working to promote WOW in China and Hong Kong, with WOW founder Suzie Moncrieff flown to lecture at design universities – two of which will incorporate WOW into their curriculums next year.
