Tourism conference speech 2007

The tourism industry has shown overwhelming support for a bold approach to the Tourism Strategy 2015, with aspirational targets.

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Prime Minister, Honourable Dover Samuels, George Hickton, Fiona Luhrs, Norm Thompson, Ray Salter and delegates.

Kia ora

I would first like to acknowledge Fiona and her team for once again organising this conference with a superb line up of panellists and speakers. Over the next couple of days, more than 300 hearts and minds will embrace the opportunity to listen, learn, and debate the future of New Zealand tourism.

This time last year I spoke to you about the need to update the New Zealand Tourism Strategy, in response to the emerging challenges and trends facing the sector.

One year on, we're just about there. A draft Strategy was released for public comment in May, and I am looking forward to releasing the final New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2015 on the 7th of November.

When the draft Strategy was released, I issued a challenge to the tourism sector. I said we needed to be bold and daring in our approach to the development of tourism into the future. I sensed a strong desire throughout the sector for leadership and direction to create a tourism industry that is a global leader in sustainability. That is, sustainability in all its forms.

There was overwhelming support for a bold approach, with aspirational targets. The comments received from over 100 individuals and groups on the draft strategy showed that you are willing, and eager, to take up that challenge.

There was also overwhelming agreement that 100% Pure New Zealand is a highly successful national tourism brand, and that we must take the necessary steps to ensure its ongoing credibility.

The draft Strategy makes sustainable business practices central to the future vision for our industry. Its actions and recommendations seek to ensure that, through to 2015 and beyond, New Zealand's tourism sector delivers a world-class visitor experience. The Strategy will provide direction to boost prosperity and attract ongoing investment, while taking a leading role in protecting and enhancing the environment.

Achieving the Strategy's outcomes will help ensure that our sector remains New Zealand's biggest earner of foreign exchange and a key driver of our economy.

But achieving our goals will require all of us to play our part. In Government, we've implemented several initiatives over the past year to help build awareness, as well as accelerating the uptake of sustainable businesses practices by the sector and indeed, across the whole economy.

We've provided funding to Qualmark New Zealand to develop environmental accreditation criteria. This will be up and running by the end of the year. I strongly encourage you to take up this opportunity.

We've also provided funding to implement the Sustainable Tourism Charter project in six regions and must find a way of continuing this programme. The programme has been a joint initiative between the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry for the Environment, and has provided tools and assistance to tourism businesses in the regions, to help them implement sustainable practices.

During the project, we found there was a need for specific information for tourism operators from the different sectors. I'm pleased to say we have responded to that need and have just published eight best-practice sustainability guides which are available in hard copy and can be downloaded from the Ministry's website.

The four-page guides are sector specific, such as accommodation, freshwater activities and transport, and give practical tips from how to minimise waste and conserve water, to how to develop a business action plan and ultimately become Qualmark endorsed.

As the Prime Minister has said, operating sustainably makes good financial sense.

Research undertaken in January found that 27% of New Zealanders said that they have purposely avoided buying from companies because of their impact on society or the environment.

Furthermore, the survey indicates that up to 1.4 million New Zealanders say they will pay a premium for products and services, which have a positive social or environmental benefit.

What these results highlight is an increasing expectation by New Zealanders that businesses will act responsibly to address issues of sustainability - environmental or social.

Thanks in part to the great work of the AA and RTOs, domestic tourism continues to make up more than half of our tourism spending, so this feedback is vitally important for tourism operators planning for their future marketing and development.

It is the same story when catering for international visitors, who often have higher expectations because of our 100% Pure brand.

Just as the Government is well aware of the profound consumer-driven changes occurring in countries such as Britain and Germany, so too are many of our outwardly-focussed business leaders and large organisations.

Companies such as Intercity Group are working hard to become carbon neutral. They understand very clearly how this will ultimately benefit their business. The New Zealand wine industry has also been quick to realise the benefits of a sustainable approach to doing business with some huge overseas supermarket companies.

I am also conscious of the excellent efforts across the entire tourism industry to uphold our reputation as a high value destination - a destination that provides quality products at a realistic price.

In doing so, we enhance our reputation for excellence and deliver what our visitors increasingly expect of their New Zealand experience.

One of the main focuses of the updated Strategy is to improve yield. We want visitors who come to New Zealand to stay longer and to spend more, which will help grow the financial returns for individual businesses through the value they obtain from each visitor.

And now we have proof that this is an achievable task. Just last week I released the latest Ministry of Tourism forecast data.

It shows that while our international visitor arrivals are expected to grow by 4% a year, their expenditure is estimated to grow by an average annual rate of over 7%.

These forecasts reflect the fact that the industry is able to grow its value at a substantially and sustainably faster rate than its volume.

The debate on visitor numbers versus yield is a perennial one for our industry. We know we have finite resources and, as our brand is one of quality, we must avoid swamping our infrastructure and environment with too many visitors.

This issue begs an interesting question for all of us - central government, local government and you, tourism operators.

And that is: What will be the best way for us as a sector to spend new chunks of investment in the future?

Should we pump it into increasing our promotional efforts offshore, or should we use it to ensure that we protect and enhance the visitor experience, and our 100% Pure brand?

Of course we will do it all, but we may be required to rearrange our priorities to achieve a truly sustainable industry.

A challenge for us all is to continue to debate this question vigorously and come up with the best answer for New Zealand.

Tourism New Zealand has been very successful in building a compelling New Zealand brand, which captures the essence of our best attributes, and I'd like to thank George Hickton and his team for their good work.

I would like to end by stating again the Government's vision for tourism.

Tourism is and will continue to be one of New Zealand's premier industries - a sustainable, high value, high performing sector which provides a world-class tourist experience.

This requires us to have: 1/ a keen awareness of the environment; 2/ strong, confident businesses that can expect a good return on their investment over many years; 3/ positive engagement with communities, and 4/ recognition of the uniqueness of our culture as a major drawcard.

It is your acceptance of and implementation of the Strategy on the ground that will make this happen.

I look forward to sharing the next couple of days with you. Your contributions to making this conference a success will contribute to the future of us all.

Thank you.