New Zealand is NOT full! What TRENZ taught me..

Trade shows are always an intense experience, old partnerships are rekindled as much as new ones are formed. For me, having the opportunity to return to my homeland and learn what the opportunities and challenges are for the industry was as insightful as it was rewarding. 

TRENZ, the annual New Zealand travel and tourism trade show hosted by TIANZ, was an opportunity to get a handle on what is a complex market driven by a swelling inbound market while it copes with domestic supply issues for the first time in over a decade. The team at TIANZ did an amazing job of wrangling near 800 buyers and over 300 sellers into three days of meaningful appointments, with my key thoughts below. 

Depending on who you ask, forecasters are predicting anywhere up to 25% growth in the tourism sector YoY for the next four years. While this may seem bullish, consider that little has been invested in attracting tier 2 visitors from China and at current levels New Zealand is already struggling to cope with demand in core inbound markets. Wealth in India is likely to surge in the next five years and the younger generation of traveler will seek adventurous experiences with New Zealand a likely wish list destination. Low cost carriers have already opened up Australasia to India (see Scoot's recent new routes) so it is only a matter of time that the volume into Australia starts to filter down to NZ.   

As businesses take the opportunity to yield up while demand is high and the visitors are wealthy there is a very real risk of alienating the domestic market which supports the industry in shoulder and low season. Fringe and domestic drive markets  are not all seeing the same levels of occupancy as those lusted after by the inbound visitor where ADR is high and commissions favorable by the OTAs and agents alike. For smaller properties and tour operators gaining enough share of voice in the online space to attract visitors to their part of New Zealand appears to be an increasing challenge.

Therein-lies the opportunity. New Zealand has the 10th largest coastline in the world, has a near winter-less subtropical north, two thirds of the south island are mountainous and literally no part of the country is more than 80 miles from the ocean. Yet, the focus remains on core markets with the exception of some long stay self drive visitors mainly from Europe who stay an average of FIVE weeks - those guys have got the idea. Granted, not everyone has five weeks of leave to go trekking about the country BUT there's so much more to do than follow the already bustling tourist trail.

I'm building a case around visiting the parts of New Zealand not yet discovered by the masses, the places where the beaches a quiet, the people sincere and foreign, the bush alive with the sound of  Tui, the beaches deserted and your nearest neighbor is a country mile away. 

You want to know a Kiwi secret? The whole damn country is a tourist trail - pick a highway, head in the opposite direction to the guide book towards the plains, the mountains, or the sea, and discover the undiscovered New Zealand.