However, going by the mood at the Tourism Export Council (TECNZ) annual conference in rotorua this week, they also feel the experience showed the worth and resilience of both inbound operators and suppliers. It also left them feeling confident about facing improved conditions in the six to 12 months ahead.
‘We’ve still got some challenges,’ says Matt Brady, managing director of Pan Pacific Travel. ‘But having more working holiday visas will help and in general we are looking good for next season.’
He says the trend of having short lead-in times for bookings is continuing but at the same time the company is seeing a return to confirmations further out.
‘We’re getting bookings for 2024-25 so that gives suppliers some peace of mind and helps them with their projections.’
Peter Harding, managing director of Grand Pacific Tours, says the company was able to navigate through all the challenges thrown at it earlier this year.
‘I don’t think we could have had more interruptions than we had between January and May. But our travel partners in the UK and in Australia have all praised the way we communicated with them through that time and looked after their passengers.’
He says the company’s move away from 48-seat coaches to a maximum of 32 has proven successful.
‘We’ve got that quality versus quantity model now and it hasn’t missed a beat. We’ll have two more 32 seat coaches coming next year and another two the next so that will give us 200 departures through New Zealand per year.’
The TECNZ conference and tourism trade show were held at Distinction Rotorua and attracted more than 300 participants including inbound tour operators, allied members, regional tourism offices and other stakeholders.
Award winners
Three of New Zealand’s top tourism businesses, one industry leader and two promising YoungTEC individuals were recognised in the Tourism Export Council (TECNZ) awards on Wednesday night.
The winners of the 2023 TECNZ Operator of the Year Awards are: Inbound Operator of the Year, Southern World; Allied Operator of the Year, Sudima Hotels; Small Business Operator of the Year, Fiordland Jet; Good Sort, Martin Langford.
The winners of the 2023 YoungTEC Awards are: YoungTEC Emerging Leader, Emma Canute; YoungTEC Rising Star, Georgia MacMillan and Morgan Potter (joint winners).
