NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL TOURISM POLICY AND DEVELOPMENT
Introduction
New Zealand is one of the most popular tourism destinations in the world. It is located in the south-western Pacific Ocean and consist of two large islands (the North Island and the South Island) and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands (Figure 1.)
Figure 1. New Zealand location map
New Zealand has diverse landscapes. Large part of the country area is mountainous with more than 223 peaks and 360 glaciers. There are numerous lakes, mostly at high altitude, and many rivers, which are important sources of hydroelectricity (which provides more than 90% of the country’s power). The country has a long coastline of over 15,000km in relation to its area (New Zealand – Geography, Commonwealth Secretariat).
New Zealand’s climate is influenced by the surrounding ocean, strong westerly winds, and the mountainous nature of the islands. The weather is changeable but most of the country experiences more than 2,000 hours of sunshine per year. Average January temperature is 13-20°C, and July temperature 6-11°C. The population of New Zealand is around 4.1 million is dominated by two cultural groups: New Zealanders of European descent, and the minority Maori (New Zealand – Geography, Commonwealth Secretariat).
Tourism plays a key role in the growth of the country’s economy and has had a substantial development over the last 10-15 years. The tourism industry of NZ as seen 85% growth in international visitors over the period 1991-2002 and 40 % growth in domestic tourism over the same period (Lennon John 2006, p.161).
New Zealand provides wide range of tourism products such as eco-tourism and other nature oriented types of tourism. Also New Zealand is popular destinations for wine tourism and leisure activities.
This project will review tourism organisations in New Zealand and will attempt to identify issues and evaluate effectiveness of the tourism organisations.
1. Tourism organisations of New Zealand
New Zealand has a wide range of organisations involved in tourism promotion and management at various community, district, regional and national levels. The main tourism organisation of government level is the Ministry of Tourism. It was established in 2002 to provide policy advice to the government to carry out tourism research and manage the tourism data set (Ministry of Economic Development. About Ministry of Tourism). A key focus of the Ministry is the implementation of the New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2010 also it aims to maximise the benefits to New Zealand from the sustainable development of the tourism industry. Their work includes advising on and evaluating Government investments in tourism, provides tourism research and statistics, administering the Tourism Facilities Grants Programme and assisting with major events. (Lennon, 2006). Additionally the Ministry promote understanding of tourism issues within Government.
National Tourism Organisation of New Zealand (TNZ) is the Crown entity responsible for the international marketing of Destination New Zealand. New Zealand Tourism Board trading as TNZ was established in 1991. The TNZ board is appointed from private sector by the Minister for Tourism. TNZ handles all marketing in co-operation with the 29 Regional and Local Tourist Board (Lennon 2006). The TNZ Executive Structure is divided amongst five departments: Corporate Services, Marketing, Operations, Tourism Development and Corporate Communications. There are three offices based in NZ and 12 international offices.
TNZ has 100% public funding. The Regional Tourism Organisations are funded separately from local taxes. Funding for the years 2002-2003 was £17 million with a similar amount projected for 2004 TNZ has an annual budget of £17 million; approximately £6-8 million is allocated to overseas marketing.
The TNZ marketing strategy is focused on international marketing, brand building and building and developing market research (Lennon 2006).
In addition to central organisations, such as the Ministry of Tourism, there are 29 Regional Tourism Organizations they are local government funded bodies responsible for marketing their regions domestically and internationally.
To assist in maintaining and developing service standards, New Zealand has industry training organisations (ITO). They work with the industry to set standards, develop new qualifications and create training systems to suit the needs of workplaces in the adventure tourism sector.
Aviation, Tourism and Travel Training Organisation (ATTTO) was established in 1994 as the industry training organisation for the aviation, tourism and travel industries. ATTTO’s mission is provide leadership on matters relating to skills and training needs and the guardianship of national qualifications that result in excellence in the three industries. ATTTO manages workplace training and modern apprenticeships across the three industries and is involved in quality assurance of training providers. ATTTO’s funding comes primarily from industry training contracts with the Tertiary Education Commission and income from the sale of resources to training providers (Tourism Industry Association New Zealand. NZ Tourism Organisations).
The Hospitality Standards Institute (HSI) is the Industry Training Organisation for the Hospitality Industry. HSI works with industry stakeholders to provide training and national qualifications for the hospitality industry in New Zealand. To ensure the industry is supplied with quality staff, and to set the standard for a consistent, professional Hospitality experience across New Zealand (Tourism Industry Association New Zealand. NZ Tourism Organisations).
Sport, Fitness, Recreation Industry Training Organisation (SFRITO) is the industry training organisation responsible for the sport, fitness, community and outdoor recreation sectors. Sfrito serves all these diverse sectors as their education and training partner. In particular, it is responsible for setting recognised standards, skills leadership and facilitating training and assessment for the industry (Tourism Industry Association New Zealand. NZ Tourism Organisations).
New Zealand tourism also has an official mark of quality, Qualmark®.. Qualmark is official system for accommodation and other tourism businesses, such as activities, attractions and transport, and provides an assurance of quality for travellers, identifying professional and trustworthy business. It is a joint venture of Tourism New Zealand and New Zealand Automobile Association and is backed by the Tourism Industry Association (Tourism Industry Association New Zealand. NZ Tourism Organisations).
All of these tourism organizations interact with each other, and work together combined for better results and successful development of the NZ industry.
The Ministry of tourism is the main tourism organisation which interacts with other organisations on different levels by providing tourism policy advice to the Minister of Tourism, work with other government departments on key tourism policy issues and provide tourism research and statistics. Ministry of tourism controls budget for all public funded organisations.
Amount of budget which is available for TNZ depends on recommendations of the Ministry to the government. TNZ which responsible for the international marketing of Destination New Zealand, have active interaction with Regional Tourism organisations. This is conducted by developing, implementing and promoting strategies to market New Zealand’s tourism industry. TNZ supports RTOs but also deals direct down to an individual operator level when appropriate. (NewRTO and NZ Peak Tourism Organisation Guidelines, 2003)
Industry Training Organisations which include Aviation, Tourism and Travel Training Organisation (ATTTO), Hospitality Standards Institute (HSI) and also Sport, Fitness, Recreation Industry Training Organisation (SFRITO) play important role in industry of tourism as a whole. These organizations develop standards of service and provide training of personnel for different areas of tourism (Tourism Industry Association New Zealand. NZ Tourism Organisations). Their activities are directed to achieve high standards of service to attract visitors. ITOs interact directly with operators to achieve high standards of service to attract visitors. They follow and implement tourism strategy developed by the Ministry of Tourism. ITOs also use data and research results of the industry to assess customer’s satisfaction and behaviours and to identify areas of improvement for the tourism service.
A causal model was developed to illustrate schematically how the tourism organisations interact with each other and to demonstrate links between effectiveness of tourism organisations and issues of the tourism industry (Figure 2). This model was developed using causal network methodology applied for tourism research (Nash, R. 2006). The causal model reflects the above described interaction of tourism organisations and shows links with issues which will be discussed in the following section.
Figure 2. Causal model of New Zealand Tourism Organisations
2. Issues in New Zealand tourism industry
Tourism industry of New Zealand has had a substantial growth in the recent years and it is considered as one of the best examples of tourism development in the world. However, the tourism industry in NZ is facing several issues which may affect its future development.
The issues can be grouped into two main categories. The first group of problems is related to improving management and operational processes. They include enhancing quality of visitor experience, increasing economic yield per visitor, rationalising and aligning organisational structures for more effective partnerships between government, public and private sectors (New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2010, 2001).
The other group of issues is related to achieving sustainable development of the tourism industry to ensure that the benefits from the tourism growth are not short lived.
This study mainly focuses on the sustainability issues which are considered to be the most important for the future of tourism development in New Zealand. Importance of sustainability of the tourism industry was emphasised by the Minister of Tourism of New Zealand in a recently issued strategy for tourism development: “The overall sustainability of our nation is central to the future of our tourism industry and will significantly impact on how we can market New Zealand to the world.” (Draft New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2015, 2007)
The following main factors contribute to the challenges of sustainable tourism development:
· Dependence on oil price and transportation costs
· Changing consumer behaviour
· Environmental damage of tourism activities.
· Increasing competition from other destinations.
Links between these problems and their effects on development of tourism industry in New Zealand are represented in causal model. Figure 2 illustrates that this issues are interlinked between each other and connected to results of work of the tourism organisations. For example increasing competition from other destinations links with dependency on oil/ costs for tourists and effectiveness of TNZ’s marketing activities.
New Zealand’s dependence on oil for tourism is large and increasing (Tourism – Eco-Efficiency of Air Miles, 2007). This is mainly due to relative remoteness of New Zealand from main target markets of the UK, the USA and Asia. Large fraction of visitors coming to NZ have to take long distance intercontinental flights, therefore cost of holidays for them is strongly linked to the transportation costs. According to statistical data, more than 40% of visitors are coming from Europe, the USA and Pacific Asia and around 36% from Australia Figure 3). Current trends suggest that relative high oil price level is likely to be sustained (Energy Information Administration, 2007). This may lead to continued growth of travel costs and reducing numbers of international visitors.
Figure 3. International tourists by market
Tourists’ preferences and expectations are also changing with time. Increasing awareness about the global warming and transportation pollution may affect destination choice and tourists’ willingness to travel long distances. As a result numbers of long haul visitors to remote destinations such as New Zealand may potentially decrease.
On the other hand there is a tendency of increasing demand for more specialised types of tourism, such as individually tailored “boutique” tourism, ecotourism and authentic cultural experiences. New Zealand has a unique location and environment as well as cultural recourses to provide a high quality experience and to make the cost of travelling to New Zealand less important to tourists in their selection of destination (Management of the environmental effects associated with the tourism sector, 1997).
There is a wide range of environmental issues associated with the tourism industry, which can potentially cause serious damage both to the environment and the industry. Natural resources which are fundamental for the New Zealand’s tourism sector are at risk in some areas and can not sustain increasing visitor pressure (Management of the environmental effects associated with the tourism sector, 1997). High quality natural environment and outdoor activities are the main attraction factors for tourists. International promotion of New Zealand’s “100% Pure” brand creates an image of a clean and untouched environment which needs to be maintained in order to meet visitors’ expectations (A clean, healthy environment – a key competitive advantage for New Zealand, 2006).
One more factor affecting sustainability of tourism development is increasing competition from other destinations offering similar tourism products. Several destinations such as Canada, Australia and some Asia Pacific countries have comparable environmental and cultural tourist attractions. Additionally some of these countries are located closer to the main tourism markets, therefore are more easily accessible and may have lower associated travel costs.
3. Effectiveness of tourism organisations of New Zealand
Overall performance of tourism industry of New Zealand has been quite successful over the last five years. Tourism expenditure has grown by approximately $ 4 billion and contributed to 9% of New Zealand’s gross domestic product. (Draft New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2007).
3.1. Government organisations (Ministry of Tourism)
The Ministry of Tourism is the main organisation responsible in development of the tourism policy and controlling budget available for all publically funded tourism organisations. Central government’s role in facilitating the growth and management of tourism has significantly expanded since 2001. Effectiveness of its work is reflected by the performance of the industry as the whole and the evolution of the tourism policy.
Review of the tourism policy conducted as a part of tourism strategy development for 2010 (New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2010, 2001) suggested that a better alignment and rationalisation of the tourism organisational structures was required. Marketing functions of the main central national tourism organisation and regional organisations were overlapping and duplicating each other. This issue was identified by the Ministry and a decision was made to consolidate all marketing activities with a single national tourism organisation TNZ. This policy allowed to eliminate duplications and to make marketing investment more transparent and efficient (Tourism New Zealand Baseline Review, 2005). This is one of the examples of an efficient policy management and it has been a great success and is further discussed in the following sections.
With respect to the issue of sustainable tourism development it was identified the government system for management of tourism environmental effects was not sufficiently integrated and in the 1990s there was no clear policy on the sustainable development (Management of the environmental effects associated with the tourism sector, 1997). This was addressed in the 2010 tourism strategy and there has been a substantial improvement in realisation of sustainable tourism programs in the tourism sector. Additionally the Ministry increased a research focus on the environmental effects of the tourism.
The Ministry of Tourism has put significant efforts into development of a tourism data set and tourism research. The extensive statistical data set and results of research are well organised and available to public and companies and organisations involved in the tourism sector.
Overall efficiency of Ministry of Tourism of New Zealand can be assessed as high based on information reviewed in this study. The Ministry fulfils its objectives well and seems to be able to react quickly to the market changes and needs of the tourism industry. Also the Ministry maintains right focus on sustainable development, nature conservation and benefits of New Zealanders.
3.2. National tourism organisation (TNZ)
The main function of TNZ is international marketing of New Zealand as tourism destination. Effectiveness of TNZ’s activities over last five years is assessed in this study based on analysis of 2010 and 2015 tourism strategies.
In late 1990s it was identified that there is a need for a more clear marketing policy and development of a strong national brand. The 100% Pure New Zealand campaign was launched in 1999 and has been constantly involving. The 100% Pure New Zealand brand is used for advertising in all New Zealand’s key tourism markets and has been very successful in positioning New Zealand as an aspiration destination (100% Pure Campaign, TNZ). It has won many awards and marketing, for example the 2004 PATA Grand Award (Draft New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2007).
100 % Pure New Zealand campaign has strong effect in the global tourism market and is one of the most successful marketing actions which indicate high effectiveness of the TNZ activities. To secure further sustainable development of tourism in New Zealand and continued success of the 100% Pure New Zealand promotion, TNZ needs to maintain image of New Zealand as country with rich and untouched nature to meet customer’s expectations.
3.3. Regional tourism organisations (RTOs)
Regional organisations form an important part of New Zealand’s tourism industry. They play a role of bridge between tourism operators and local and central government, they also doing promotions of their regions to potential visitors.
In 2010 strategy 15 recommendations were made directly to the RTOs. One of the main recommendations is a need for more integration of local ethnical population (Maori) in the tourism industry. In 2001 it was recommended that RTOs builds partnerships with Maori in regional tourism planning and development and regional destination marketing and management. In the longer term, it is planned to facilitate establishment of a National Maori Tourism Organisation. Also it was advised that Maori’s investment capabilities in tourism should be increased to enable their greater participation tourism at regional and national level.(The Ministry of tourism, Regional Tourism Organisations in NZ)
By 2007 participation of Maori in tourism and presence of Maori culture has improved considerably. By 2007 twelve percent of New Zealand’s tourism workforce is Maori, comprising 91% employees and 9% employers. Around 20% of international visitors to New Zealand experience Maori cultural activities. There are now more than 350 Maori tourism businesses in New Zealand. Establishment of the New Zealand Maori Tourism Council and 14 Maori Regional Tourism Organisations has assisted existing operators in expanding and developing new businesses.
In addition to increasing Maori participation a number of Regional Tourism Organisations have invested considerably in attracting and promoting local events (e.g. Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch) to attract more visitors (Draft New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2015, 2007).
Conclusions
- New Zealand’s tourism organisation is formed by three main public institution; the ministry of Tourism, TNZ and regions TOs.
- The public institutions develop tourism strategy and control international marketing of the New Zealand. They work closely with private sector companies and New Zealand industry training organisations to ensure appropriate service standards.
- The main issue for the New Zealand tourism at current stage is the sustainable development. Main challenges for the tourism sustainability are: oil price dependence, environmental damage, changing consumer behaviour and increasing completion from other destinations.
- A causal model of New Zealand tourism organisations and issues was built based on the literature review and was used to demonstrate links and interdependencies the industry.
- Based on conducted review it can be concluded that at present public tourism organisations of New Zealand have high overall efficiency.
- It was found that the tourism organisations adapted successfully to the changing market conditions and reacted effectively to the challenges and identified issues.
- The issue of sustainable development appears to be sufficiently incorporated in the current New Zealand tourism strategy developed and implemented by the Ministry of Tourism.
- Marketing activities of Tourism New Zealand was highly successful over the last eight years and is considered to be an industry showcase.
- New Zealand’s tourism organisations need to maintain their efficient performance and keep focus on sustainable tourism and nature conservation to continue meeting visitors’ expectations.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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