Tourism in New Zealand
Other than its high population and an even higher rate of outbound travels, India is the eleventh largest international visitor to New Zealand. An average of 24,000 tourists from India visit New Zealand every year with the number of visitors from this country expected to continue increasing with time. The visits normally take place in two peak seasons which are April and may or November and December. In India, May is the hottest month and most citizens prefer to travel this time. In this period, tourist in New Zealand from India constitute for 45% of the population with the rest of the Indian tourist distributed across the rest of the peak seasons. The type of Indian visitors are mostly independent professionals, families on holidays and VFR travelers who stay in the New Zealand for a period of between 9 to 78 days (Tourism New Zealand, 2016).
India is expected to contribute to the outbound tourists by 50 million and 28 million of the people who hold passports could be attracted to New Zealand for tourism. Due to the high potential for attracting a high number of tourists, New Zealand should be ready to make adjustments and boost its tourism industry so as to benefit from the new opportunities that will be created by the Indian market. Even though there have been a promising number of tourists visiting new Zealand in destinations such as Queenstown, there are some improvements that could be made to ensure that more tourists come in to enjoy the tourist attraction sites. For instance, there is no direct route to fly tourists from India to New Zealand (Tourism New Zealand, 2016). Tourists have to travel through Asian hubs such as Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. There is also the lack of adequate air seats assigned for New Zealand and this is a great challenge to the tourism industry. In order to attract tourists from India, the airline issue needs to be addressed and to make the journey as comfortable to ensure that tourists look forward to visit destinations such as Queenstown, New Zealand to enjoy its various attractions (Destination Queenstown, 2016).
To improve the situation in Queenstown, New Zealand, two rationales have been considered for the strategies implemented to enhance growth of tourism in the area. One rationale is to try and increase the demand for tourism through innovative marketing for Queenstown. The goal is to use consumer marketing through campaigns that are focused towards attracting tourists from countries such as India during the seasons of spring, summer or autumn. Attractions like cycling and golf could be used in the marketing campaigns together with the amenities that Queenstown has to offer (Destination Queenstown, 2016). As part of the marketing strategy, social media could be used to showcase what tourists will enjoy and entice them to make New Zealand their tourism destination. Trade marketing could also be enhanced to attract more tourists from India through trade. Broadening the services offered by airlines and tourism agents will attract more visitors thus creating more exposure to the various tourist destination sites (QLDC, 2015).
Another rationale is the improvement of the tourism department through economic development. This will be achieved by combining investments and policies in order to place organizations and individuals in a position where they can benefit from the opportunities presented by tourism. It also aims at improving the living standards of residents of Queenstown and improves the quality of life in the area. Among the various factors that determine whether Indian tourists will visit Queenstown is the aspect of human resources (QLDC, 2016). Employees, investors and entrepreneurs are influential and also make decisions regarding the best ways to attract people from other countries into New Zealand. By assessing the condition of the various markets, they are aware of the decisions that need to be made so as to make local amenities and attractions appealing to tourists. They also make policies that determine the life that both locals and tourists will experience while in the area. Local governments and the central government are examples of the various human resource bodies that could help to improve the state of Queenstown as an ideal tourist destination.
In the case of financial resources, the town can rely on local business groups, the government and the population’s contribution or the purpose of boosting tourism in the area. The physical structure of Queenstown is lucrative and has a lot of attractions ideal for tourism in the area. Other than hotels and good infrastructure, there are bike trails, lakes and mountains that make it a place worth visiting. Although a lot has been put into promoting tourism in the area, caution must be taken so as not to alter the tourism organizational structure that already attracts and supports a wide number of tourists each year (QLDC, 2016).
Since improving tourism in the area is a process, a strategic monitoring method of assessing if the milestones are successful will be regular check to see how many tourists from India visit Queenstown. Visiting records and durations of stay will be essential in determining if the milestones were successful in attracting new tourists from the target market. Another strategy is to conduct voluntary online questionnaires for Indians to see what they think of the improvement in Queenstown as a tourist attraction site. A contingency plan could be made when tourists exceed the expected number whereby they will be encouraged to visit other areas in New Zealand other than Queenstown. If they do not meet the expected number, a contingency plan may include using tour guides in other towns to inform tourists of other attraction cites worth visiting in Queenstown. If normal, the plan will involve assessing what more could be done to attract more tourists especially from India.
References
Destination Queenstown, (2016) “Queenstown New Zealand” retrieved from, https://www.queenstownnz.co.nz/information/thingstodo/
Queenstown Lake District Council, (2015) “Economic development strategy” New Zealand
Tourism New Zealand, (2016) “Three year marketing strategy FY2014-FY2016” New Zealand Tourism
