Posted by
admin on Wednesday, September 24th 2008
Can New Zealand Stem the reducing Tourist Numbers

Numbers Going Down
New Zealand Accommodation tourism businesses face a tough winter as industry bosses warn of flat trading as the high kiwi dollar and economic woes thump global visitor spending.
Tourism Minister Damien O’Connor and Tourism New Zealand boss George Hickton were in Christchurch yesterday to prepare traders for what lies ahead, because of the world-wide credit crunch.
“I think it will be tougher. It would be hard to pick at this stage but I’d certainly be surprised if we got any growth in the winter,” Hickton said before the briefing.
“The ski season is lining up OK, and next year we’ll probably have a reasonable summer again … but I think we’ll get one or two months this winter which are a bit tough,” Hickton said.
Negatives included the continued fall in visitors from Japan and South Korea, and higher demand for aircraft around the world constraining the number of seats to New Zealand.
Higher oil prices and falling house prices were reducing discretionary spending of consumers, particularly in North America and Europe.
Most traders were expecting a flat season, with competition getting more intense, O’Connor said. “They are concerned about whether they should plan for growth or whether they should try and make better use of the (visitor) numbers they are currently getting.”
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