New Zealand, which consists of two main islands – the North and South Islands – and a number of
smaller islands, is known for its natural beauty, culture, rugby and ecotourism. The country’s marketing
slogan, ‘100% Pure New Zealand’, has been in use for the last 10 years. In the New Zealand Tourism
Strategy 2015, the Pure New Zealand campaign promotes responsible tourism and refers to the M?ori
concept of kaitiakitanga, which means guardianship, care or protection in relation to the environment.
There are a number of tourism businesses focusing on nature and green initiatives to protect the natural
environment in New Zealand. More than 10% of New Zealand has been awarded World Heritage status
by the UN Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO). The three main sites are:
Tongariro National Park; Te Wahipounamu, which contains four national parks; and the Sub-Antarctic
Islands.
The number of arrivals coming to New Zealand has been climbing steadily since 2001, apart from in 2008
and 2009 when there was zero growth due to the global financial crisis and recession. In 2011, 2.59mn
arrivals are forecast to visit the country, then growing by an average of 3% year-on-year (y-o-y) to reach
2.97mn in 2015. Given the fact that New Zealand is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, the most
popular way to travel to the country is by air. In 2011, 2.56mn of the forecast arrivals are expected to
travel by plane, compared to just 27,000 arriving by sea.
Tourism is a relatively large contributor to New Zealand’s GDP compared to other countries (eg tourism
in the UK contributed about 2% to the GDP in 2009). After peaking at 8.2% in 2008 and expected to fall
to 7.4% in 2011, tourism expenditure’s contribution to GDP will grow steadily throughout our forecast
period to 8.5% by 2015.
The main regional source market for New Zealand tourism is the Asia Pacific region. In 2010, 1.66mn
tourists from the region are estimated to have visited New Zealand and this is forecast to grow to 1.88mn
by the end of the forecast period. The number of New Zealanders travelling abroad is also forecast to rise
through to 2015. Unsurprisingly, given its proximity, the majority of residents travel to the Asia Pacific
region, mainly to Australia and Fiji. In second and third place are Europe and North America, with the
UK and US the most popular destinations in those regions.
Although the number of hotel beds in New Zealand is forecast to increase by approximately 5,000 during
our forecast period, there has not been a great deal of new hotel construction in the past year.
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