ANNUAL REPORT Tourism New Zealand 2013/2014
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G25 ANNUAL REPORT Tourism New Zealand 2013/2014 1 A walk on the wild side — Miles Holden 2.4 574 million referrals to trade reps hosted in tourism businesses from NZ on familiarisation newzealand.com trips $7.1 billion injected into the nation’s economy by international 39 visitors conference bids supported through the Conference Assistance Programme 39 major trade events attended by TNZ 21,781 NZ online travel modules completed 2 new international offices 18.2 million visits to newzealand.com 2 200 2.78 million international media total visitor attend Book of arrivals New Zealand event in LA 130 international media hosted in NZ for the Royal visit 792 fully qualified NZ Specialists 35% 20 increase in editions of Government funding newzealand.com in nine languages 3 4 Sara Orme Contents 02/ Tourism New Zealand – Who We Are 04/ Chair and Chief Executive Report 10/ Governance 12/ Board Members 13/ Core Leadership Team 14/ Tourism Outcomes 22/ Statement of Service Performance 34/ Equal Employment Opportunities 37/ Financial Statements 71/ Audit Report 1 Miles Holden JAKARTA Tourism New Zealand is a Crown Agent governed by the Crown Entities Act CEA 2004. We were established by the New Zealand Tourism Board Act 1991, to market our country as an international visitor destination for the long-term benefit of New Zealand. We aim to improve tourism’s contribution to economic growth by growing the value of international visitors to New Zealand. Our statutory functions under the CEA Act include to: • Develop, implement and promote strategies for tourism. • Advise the Government and the New Zealand tourism industry on matters relating to the development, implementation and promotion of those strategies. 22 Tourism New Zealand has fourteen offices, two in New Zealand, and approximately 157 full time staff SAO PAULO As New Zealand’s National Tourism Organisation, we are the only entity within our country with the mandate and resources to promote ‘destination New Zealand’ to potential visitors. Our work has been carried out under the umbrella of the ‘100% Pure New Zealand’ campaign for over a decade. The campaign was originally conceived in 1999 and has evolved over the years to tell the story of how the people, landscapes and activities combine to deliver a uniquely New Zealand experience. While advertising and promotion activity is where we focus many of our resources, our marketing also extends to partnering with international travel sellers and airlines, engaging with New Zealand tourism operators, providing information for visitors, and providing assurance of the quality of New Zealand’s tourism product and experiences. Tourism New Zealand is governed by a Board of Directors, which delegates day-to-day management of the organisation to the Chief Executive. Tourism New Zealand has 12 off-shore offices, two in New Zealand, and 157 staff. 3 3 Chair and Chief Executive Report KERRY PRENDERGAST KEVIN BOWLER Tourism New Zealand Chair Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive On behalf of the Board and the Executive team A number of factors have contributed to this overall of Tourism New Zealand, we are pleased to present picture of growth, including improving economic the Annual Report for the 2013/14 year. conditions and changes in air capacity. However, it is clear that Tourism New Zealand has also played Tourism New Zealand began the period with a significant role. a new three-year marketing strategy providing clear strategic direction for the organisation, and an Research commissioned from the New Zealand additional $123 million in Government funding Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) found that across four years. This enabled significant marketing factors had a significant and quantifiable expansion of our activity to market New Zealand impact on visitor arrivals, with the strongest of these as a visitor destination. factors being the impact of New Zealand’s association with Middle-earth and the Hobbit films. Connecting The period concluded with international arrivals New Zealand with Middle-earth has been the main growing at a level not seen in a decade. For the priority of Tourism New Zealand’s marketing since year ending June, total arrivals were up 5.7 per late 2012. The research showed that the increase cent, driven by the growth in holiday arrivals, up 8.1 in arrivals had outstripped key markets’ economic per cent. The result was increased value to the recovery and growth in outbound tourism, and that industry, with total holiday stay days up 12.9 per cent New Zealand attracted more international visitors and expenditure from holiday visitors up 23.0 per than economic factors alone could account for. cent. In short, they are staying longer and spending more, despite a relatively strong New Zealand dollar. It is rare to have such clear verification of the impact of Tourism New Zealand’s work. The findings were Importantly, the long-staying Western markets further backed up by the International Visitor Survey, of the UK, Germany and USA returned to growth, showing that 13 per cent of holiday arrivals for the accompanied by a continued steady increase from year ending June said The Hobbit Trilogy was a factor our largest visitor market Australia. in influencing their decision to choose New Zealand. There were ongoing positive shifts towards a higher- The ‘100% Middle-earth, 100% Pure New Zealand’ quality visitor from China, helped significantly by the campaign was once again award winning, introduction of the China Travel Law in October 2013. acknowledged as the Grand Award winner at the While growth in numbers slowed, average length of Pacific Asia Travel Association Gold Awards 2014. stay was up by 16.9 per cent year-on-year, increasing from 6.5 days to 7.6 days for the year ending June 2014. 44 100% Middle-earth will continue to be a core element of our activity in FY15 as we fully leverage the powerful hook it offers to influence the decision to choose New Zealand as a destination. This provides effective cut-through in all markets but is particularly powerful in the US, Germany and the UK. This year the leverage campaign will start to make a subtle shift, with a focus on journeying through New Zealand, as we prepare for the next evolution of the campaign post Middle-earth in FY16. Core business progress Working in partnership with others continues to deliver significant benefit, extending the reach and effectiveness of Tourism New Zealand’s marketing efforts. During the year the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Air New Zealand was renewed, with a $20 million extension to the marketing partnership. A three-year agreement with China Southern Airlines and a three-year agreement with Singapore Airlines were also signed, both critical to sustaining strong air connectivity to New Zealand. Other partnerships were formalised with America’s largest incentive travel management company MARITZ Travel, and US premium travel consortium Virtuoso, supporting work to target high-value travellers through the lucrative conference and events sector. Activity to ensure travel sellers are knowledgeable about New Zealand and able to sell it effectively as a holiday destination is critical in realising the potential of target markets. In March a revised trade website was released which, together with our 100% Pure New Zealand Specialist programme, is a core element of Tourism New Zealand’s work with travel professionals to build in-depth destination knowledge, get the latest product updates, and in turn, grow their New Zealand sales. Also in March, more than 50 agents from South and South East Asia (SSEA) were welcomed on the first SSEA mega-famil, coinciding with the completion of their 100% Pure New Zealand Specialist training. A total of 427 travel professionals became fully qualified 100% Pure New Zealand Specialists during the year. The year was another significant one for international media exposure, which provides much greater reach than can be achieved through paid campaign activity alone. 5 5 Fraser Clements A total of 298 media files were secured delivering the growing importance of mobile-digital in engaging approximately $197 million in equivalent advertising with target audiences. value. This included large-scale broadcasts; among them were: Australia’s top-rating breakfast show The release of Tourism New Zealand’s first mobile Sunrise, America’s The Bachelor, Korea’s Dad! Where app, Essential New Zealand, also proved to be are we going?, and the UK’s action reality show RV very popular. With 90,000 downloads and 60,000 Rampage plus James Nesbitt’s River Deep, Mountain referrals generated to industry, the app is effectively High Christmas Day broadcast. All delivered extensive capitalising on the increased use of mobile devices coverage and exposure of New Zealand to excite and by visitors while in the country. motivate potential travellers to visit. Developing people Leveraging off the 130 media here to follow the Royal visit resulted in significant media coverage showing Tourism New Zealand’s people have continued to be New Zealand as a welcoming, hospitable visitor developed through a number of new initiatives. destination. It coincided with the country becoming the UK’s top dream destination in TripAdvisor’s Over the year successful regional forums were biannual trip barometer study. Combining this event rolled-out to bring our people together for business with the media coverage achieved through the planning, learning and development. New Business interactive display ‘The Book of New Zealand’, in Leaders and Emerging Leaders programmes were place for the Los Angeles premiere of the second introduced, and an online learning channel and Hobbit movie, and the articles published by Share and Learn programme were implemented attendees at the US Travel Classics writers’ to support the global development needs of the association conference in May, an additional organisation and encourage knowledge sharing.