The ‘involuntary refurbishments’ and reopening of two of Accor’s four Christchurch earthquake-damaged properties will be what the whole New Zealand tourism industry needs, says Peter Hook, general manager communications, Accor Asia Pacific. ‘There is no doubt the earthquake has knocked inbound travel by about 20%,’ says Hook. Hotel Ibis Christchurch is set to open in September 2012, with Novotel Christchurch to follow in April 2013, the latter a property with significant conference facilities that the city has missed. Novotel’s reopening will mean a multiplying effect says Hook, with the confidence boost of a major hotel reopening sparking peripheral business in the central business area, as well as a revival in the rest of the South Island.

TRENZ, New Zealand’s biggest annual international tourism showcase, will return to Auckland in 2013, says the Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA).
'After two highly successful years in the Southern Lakes region, we look forward to taking TRENZ back to New Zealand’s biggest city,' TIA interim chief executive Grant Lilly said. The announcement was made on the final day of TRENZ 2012, which has brought more than 300 influential international travel buyers and media to meet about 280 leading New Zealand tourism operators at the Queenstown Events Centre this week. TRENZ 2013 will take place on the Auckland waterfront April 21-24 and will take advantage of new venues and infrastructure created for Rugby World Cup 2011.

Tourism Fiji's Cruise Me famil aboard Captain Cook Cruises' MV Reef Endeavour has just six spaces available on its seven night cultural cruise. Departing Auckland on June 4 and returning on June 13, the famil costs $600 plus GST and is available to qualified Fiji Matai specialists only. Participants must complete the Captain Cook Cruises online training programme, book one cultural cruise within six  months of completing the famil and complete and submit an evaluation report to Toursim Fiji before returning to New Zealand at the end of the famil. Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it at Tourism Fiji for more information.

Outdated marketing of New Zealand to the Indonesian travel market means that their perception of our country needs invigorating, says David Taylor, New Zealand's ambassador to Indonesia and ASEAN. Effort is being put into building awareness and furthering relationships, with Prime Minister John Key's visits with major business delegations and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding meaning that Garuda Airlines may begin flights from Bail to Auckland in 2013, four times a week.

David Chalklen, country manager of social media marketing agency Volcanic, believes social media can effectively change misconceptions, especially with the Indonesians who 'naturally' share with their communities online, given the nature of the country's congestion and travel restrictions. 'It's in their DNA - their culture is a social and collectivist society', says Chalklen. Both Taylor and Chalklen emphasis the potential wealth within the Indonesian market, with Chalklen citing that the number of Indonesian billionaires has doubled in the last year alone. Taylor urged not to forget about the incentive sector, which he says has a lot of money and value involved.

Hotel beds in Christchurch should be at 60% of the pre-quake capacity by mid 2014, with the current figure of 825 beds expected to double by this time next year, says Bruce Garrett, Tourism Industry Association regional chair - Hotels Christchurch. Currently just seven of the major hotels in Christchurch are operating, but by mid 2014 all of the hotels that have indicated they will reopen will have done so.

Speaking at Tourism Rendezvous (TRENZ) in Queenstown, Garrett says this includes all five star properties and 70% of four star plus properties. Rendezvous Christchurch is anticipated to be the first large hotel to reopen in the CBD, during July/August, followed by the Ibis in September/October.

The key aim from Garrett and other speakers on the Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism panel at TRENZ was a 'debunking of myths' surrounding Christchurch's state, pushing Canterbury as a highly functional and safe city that is only looking forward. There are 80 days left until the New Central City Plan approval concludes. This will begin the process of building a recreation-friendly, low rise central business area and hotel precinct supported by a new world-class convention centre.

Tim Hunter, chief executive of Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism says the state of Christchurch today is that the red zone has shrunk by 70% and should vanish by the end of this year, and many CBD businesses have successfully relocated. It was noted at TRENZ that in 2011, Canterbury lost one million international visitor nights, which equated to a 36% decrease.

The International Cruise Council Australasia (ICCA) figures reflect the number of New Zealanders taking a cruise holiday has soared to a record high of 56,479, a 32% increase on 2010, according to the ICCA figures released today. Representing one of the strongest passenger growth rates in the world, New Zealanders taking a cruise holiday has more than doubled from 26,510 in 2006. In presenting the figures, Brett Jardine, GM ICCA, said the South Pacific retained its position as the most popular cruise destination up 47%, followed by Alaska, up 38%. Cruising New Zealand waters rose by nearly 220%, from 1452 in 2010 to 4628 in 2011 as a result of an increase in short break cruises from Auckland.

Jardine attributed the growth to the broadening range of cruise ships available locally and overseas and well as increased awareness of the benefits of a cruise holiday. 'Every year more cruise ships sail New Zealand waters, adding to the profile of cruising and prompting an unprecedented number of Kiwis to take a cruise holiday,' says Jardine. 'While other industries have wavered in tough economic times, cruising has continued to expand,' he added.

The report looked at booking lead times and found that more than half of Kiwis book inside the six month period, 40% coordinate six to 12 months in advance and 9% book more than a year before departure.

Tony Smith, Francis Travel Marketing says the report was pleasing and reflected the hard work that the industry has put in, not just in the last year, but in previous years. 'The increased capacity for 2011 certainly paid off and this coming cruising season is looking positive with passenger targets reached to date,' says Smith.

Destination growth

River Cruising continues to grow in popularity, accounting for almost 5% of New Zealand cruise passengers in 2011.

South Pacific cruising is up 47%, Alaska up 38%, Europe up 3%, Australia up 12%, Other Americas up 10%, River Cruising up 12%, Asia up 16% and World Voyages up 12%, other up 46%.

A first

For the first time, the ICCA New Zealand cruise industry report includes a breakdown of cruise passengers by residence, giving an insight into which New Zealander's cruise most. The report shows that North Island passengers represented 73% and those living in the South Island accounted for the remaining 27%.

In its fifth year of collating and presenting data, the ICCA now has 32 member cruise lines, an increase on the original 23 cruise lines in 2006.

Belinda Clark, Complete Cruise Solutions and Brett Jardine, ICCA at the Heritage Hotel, Auckland	Debbie Summers, sales and marketing manager IDNZ catches up with Tony Smith, Francis Travel Marketing	Vanessa Mynot, Cruiseabout Parnell and Sue Grigg, Cruiseabout Ponsonby ready for the ICCA report
Angela Bartram and Gordy Bayne, Mondo head office	Mark Kinchley, sales manager NZ Celebrity Cruises catches up with Denise Fowler Brilliant Travel Ltd	Helen Manoney, Lets Cruise and Pauline Ray, Dock Street Group

The Chinese, Indian and Indonesian markets are the key players to look out for in the New Zealand tourism industry in the next decade, according to Kevin Bowler, chief executive Tourism New Zealand, and other key speakers at the official press conference at TRENZ in Queenstown today. 'These three markets will really shape New Zealand over the next decade, in terms of key emerging markets', says Bowler (pictured).

The western markets including Australia and the US are still key focuses. While China saw a 23.7% increase in visitor numbers between 2011 and 2012, the key challenge for the China market was that the average length of stay in New Zealand is decreasing, a challenge that Tourism New Zealand aims to focus on. 'Value and stay days correlate, and we're not seeing growth here from China, which is where the value sits', says Bowler.

Another challenge facing New Zealand tourism is competing against Australia for mono travel - 86% of travel out of China was dual with Australia, and only 9% mono travel for New Zealand.

Tourism New Zealand will show increased attention to new, invigorated partnerships, as well as focusing on yield across the board, particularly in business and special interest groups. Lilly Choi-Lee of TravConsult, who spoke with Trevor Lee at the Auckland Airport International Speaker Programme, says that New Zealand would be on the radar for many 'time poor and cash rich' affluent Indonesians, in terms of an aspiration destination. According to Choi-Lee, ten million Indonesians can afford to travel outside of Indonesia, and many are sophisticated, well traveled business people who can speak English - a very potential target for New Zealand tourism.

Choi-Lee stressed the importance of understanding cultural differences with Indians, such as an appreciation of their dietary requirements, later day cycles, and importance of status which are two common challenges for Indian inbound operators. India is the world's youngest country, with 50% under 25 years old. 'Plan for India now,' says Choi-Lee. 'Products should be looking at the youth market who like to be interactive'.

Korean Air’s network has expanded with the inaugural service of London Gatwick on April 28 from Incheon Airport in Seoul. With three services per week initially, the service will add to Korean Air’s daily London Heathrow service. For the New Zealand market, the scheduling of this new Seoul (Incheon) – London (Gatwick) flight will see KE operate the fastest service from Auckland to London. KE130 departs at 8.45am from AKL, arrives into SEL (Incheon) at 17.45; KE909 departs at 18.45, arrives at 22.55, same day. The connection is outside the minimum connecting time of 45 minutes for Incheon and KE sales executive, Mike Kim says ‘Incheon is a very efficient airport and the turnaround is easily attainable.’

Korean Air wanted to increase its operation into London Heathrow, but no time slots were available. KE’s vice president passenger sales division, Sunghoi Song says the London Gatwick service sits perfectly with the Asia Pacific connections. ‘We will operate Boeing 777's on the Gatwick route, which has eight Kosmo Sleeper Class, 28 Prestige Plus (Business) class and 225 economy. There are no plans to switch to the A380.'

The 777-200 aircraft features refurbished Kosmo Suites in first class and the full flat-bed seats in business class. Economy class passengers are seated in new ergonomically designed slim seats with a forward-sliding bottom cushion and a 10.6inch LCD screen playing movies on demand. The inflight menu features a selection of European dishes and a traditional Korean dish – Bibimbap, which comes complete with directions on how make the dish while seated.

The same day arrival into London for New Zealand passengers, lands them 24 hours and 20 minutes after departure from Auckland, trimming almost 300 km’s off other carrier's flying distances.

At Korean Air HQ in Seoul, Mike Kim, KE sales executive New Zealand and Ruth Scott, TRAVELinc prepare to take a lesson in the 747 simulator from instructor, Terri Ser	Korean Air simulator instructors, Mr Hahn, Mr Kim and Terri Ser, took the media contingent for a ‘flight’ while at KE headquarters.	Nathan Cho, assistant manager corporate communications, Korean Air Seoul and Mike Kim, KE sales executive New Zealand prepare to view inside the business jet at the KE hangar
First through the gate - Mike Kim, KE sales executive New Zealand is checked through at Incheon Airport for the inaugural service to LGW.	KE 909 prepares for the inaugural flight from Incheon Airport	Chief purser, Mr Sung Won Choi, welcomes passengers on board KE909 to Gatwick
Korean Air services include on demand inflight entertainment	A selection of wines available from Korean Air flight attendant, Ms Bo HI Kim, while onboard the inaugural flight to Gatwick.	At the Korean Traditional Cultural Experience Centre, Incheon International Airport, passengers can take part in the free activities and entertainment on offer.
	Left - Korean Air's first class lounge at Incheon International Airport, Korea   Right - Korean Air's business class lounge at London's Heathrow Airport

China Airlines has appointed the Walshe Group as its Passenger GSA in New Zealand effective May 1, 2012.  China Airlines is Taiwan’s largest airline and also one of the leading carriers in Asia, with home base and headquarter in Taiwan. China Airlines is operating three flights a week from Auckland via Brisbane to Taipei with intensive connections beyond to Asia, Europe and North America. China Airlines is a member of SkyTeam.  

Auckland Airport’s chief executive, Simon Moutter, has resigned his position from the company. He has accepted the role of chief executive at Telecom. Auckland Airport’s chief financial officer Simon Robertson will become acting chief executive when Simon Moutter leaves the company at the end of his four month notice period. Robertson joined the company in 2005 and held a range of senior financial and aeronautical roles until his appointment as chief financial officer in 2009.

A focus on up and coming travel and tourism leaders is one of the aspects of the Pacific Asia Travel Association’s (PATA) conference at The Royale Chulan, Kuala Lumpur on April 19 to 22. Two events – a youth forum and an entrepreneurs’ challenge – are specifically aimed at younger participants.

PATA chief executive Martin Craigs says the conference theme of ‘building the business beyond profits’ is also pertinent to young people in the industry. ‘One message is that you need to use technology as an ally but it is still important to deal with people in 3D – not just on a cold 2D screen. You need to meet and you need to travel – it is life’s most enriching experience.’ Read more from PATA