ITC Industry News Bulletin #39

In this week’s airline, travel and tourism news, Auckland Airport chief executive is confident about the future of NZ tourism, Air New Zealand reports profit increases and more.

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Auckland Airport boss confident NZ can sustain tourism growth

The chief executive of Auckland Airport, Andrew Littlewood, is full of optimism about the future of New Zealand tourism. He believes with the right approach, the country can achieve further growth – providing the country finds a way to adapt to the increasing number of visitors.

“There are plenty of opportunities for this country but we will have to be receptive,” Mr Littlewood said.

He compared New Zealand’s tourism industry to that of Ireland, a country similar in size but which welcomes a lot more visitors each year.

“Ireland, which is also a small country with 4.5 million people, has 8.6 million visitors a year and I don’t think the people of Ireland think those visitors are taking over the country,” he said.

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