PM welcomes Air NZ and Tourism NZ’s partnership

Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, John Key, has welcomed the recommitment from two leading partners who market New Zealand to the world.

“I am delighted to hear of Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand’s renewal of their annual Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), and commitment to invest a combined $20 million over the next 12 months to promote New Zealand as a visitor destination.

“The activity undertaken under the MOU, and the results delivered to the New Zealand tourism industry and economy, reinforces the partnership as one of the most efficient and effective ways to promote New Zealand,” says Mr Key.

The joint campaign in the USA to leverage the second Hobbit movie, The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug, achieved strong increases on the previous year’s campaigns – driving more than 28,000 referrals to Air New Zealand and resulting in more than 4,000 fare sales.

“The combined activity of Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand has been a driver of the impressive growth in visitor arrivals from the USA – up 10.4 per cent for the year ending March 2014.

“I’m looking forward to attending the key annual trade event TRENZ 2014 in Auckland tomorrow, to meet with the industry and operators at the heart of our tourism offering,” says Mr Key.