TIA urges govt to make a smart move

New Zealand’s multi-billion dollar tourism industry wants SmartGate electronic passport processing extended to other key visitor markets to boost visitor numbers.

“Creating seamless border experiences and removing barriers for people travelling to New Zealand is critical to growing international visitor arrivals,” Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA) Chief Executive Tim Cossar says.

Extending SmartGate beyond Australia would create significant growth in foreign exchange earnings from visitors, Mr Cossar says.

“The border is like New Zealand’s ‘shop window’. While security must always be paramount, first impressions count, and a straightforward, welcoming arrival will leave a favourable impression on visitors.”

TIA will be strongly encouraging the incoming government to identify markets where SmartGate could be introduced. TIA’s Tourism Future Statement 2011-14 The Visitor Economy: Creating Wealth www.tianz.org.nz/nztourismfuture highlights the fact that this is one of the ways New Zealand can make it easier for travellers.

Also important, particularly for rapidly growing markets like China, is reducing the time it takes to process visas. TIA acknowledges that enormous improvements have been made in the last three years, and wants to ensure this continues.

Reducing the time it takes to renew work visas will definitely benefit tourism businesses, many of whom rely on working holidaymakers over the peak season. TIA has achieved some success with Immigration New Zealand in Queenstown on this issue and will continue to work with officials to reduce uncertainty for both employers and working travellers.

“Growing direct air links with other countries will definitely boost lucrative visitor numbers. We have seen that this year, with a 56% increase in Malaysian visitors since Air Asia X introduced its new Kuala Lumpur-Christchurch service,” Mr Cossar says.

“This clearly demonstrates the importance of building air links with important visitor markets, and we’ll be encouraging the incoming government to take action on this.”

TIA will also be calling for continued lobbying against departure taxes imposed by foreign governments, like Britain’s Air Passenger Duty (APD). The additional costs generated by such taxes can be a strong disincentive for long-haul travel.

Queenstown Top 10 Holiday Park “Creeksyde” owner Erna Spijkerbosch says growing visitor numbers brings real benefits to New Zealand.

“We bring people in from overseas and scatter them to all the corners of New Zealand. The income and the benefits are right across the regions and cities,” she says.