ITC Industry News Bulletin #63

In this week’s airline, travel and tourism news, Queenstown is named the world’s fourth friendliest city, the ‘Best of New Zealand’ US Roadshow was a hit, and more.

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Queenstown named the world’s fourth friendliest city

The Conde Nast Traveler magazine has just released its annual list of the world’s friendliest cities, and New Zealand’s own Queenstown has come out in fourth place.

More than 128,000 people voted in this Readers’ Choice Award. Queenstown cracked the top five, while Auckland and Wellington also made it to the top 20, ranking 15th and 17th respectively. The three cities that beat Queenstown were (in order), Charleston in South Carolina in the USA, Sydney in Australia, and Dublin in Ireland.

Last year, Auckland managed to win sixth place, while no other New Zealand cities made the top 20.

Unfortunately for the United States, the entire top 10 of least friendly cities in the world were found there, with New Jersey’s Newark in the unwanted top spot.

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ITC Industry News Bulletin #50

In this week’s tourism news, New Zealand wins a top award for adventure travel, TRENZ 2016 kicks off, and more.

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New Zealand wins Best International Destination for Adventure award

Each year, the Lonely Planet Magazine India Travel Awards recognise the best of the best for international travel. This year – and for the second year in a row – New Zealand has taken the top spot for Best International Destination for Adventure.

The award was announced at an event in Mumbai on May 9, where Australia and South Africa were named as runners up to the award.

Steven Dixon, regional manager South and South East Asia for Tourism New Zealand, explains what the award meant for the country’s travel industry.

“As a key market for Tourism New Zealand, the award is a positive endorsement from Indian travellers – which supports our work to drive interest and awareness with those considering booking a trip to experience it for themselves.”

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ITC Industry News Bulletin #49

Travel news in New Zealand this week includes a historic flight, a major investment, as well as predictions for future tourism.

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Queenstown celebrates first night flight

Up until May 1 2016, Queenstown had never been able to offer departures or landings after dark due to the airport’s location amidst the mountains. That all changed, however, when Air New Zealand landed its first ever flight after dark. The flight was the first test run for commercial services that will begin later this month.

A full schedule for passenger flights will come into effect not long after, which will see an additional 100,000 seats available between Auckland and Queenstown – an increase of roughly 15 percent on current levels.

This historic first was achieved with runway improvements, new airfield lighting and airline training and procedures.

“It really is a milestone for New Zealand aviation and we’re proud to be the first airline to offer this service to customers,” explained Air NZ Chief Flight Operations and Safety Officer Captain David Morgan.

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ITC Industry News Bulletin #22

In this week’s Industry News Bulletin, we take a look at tourism in the South Island, with both Queenstown and Christchurch experiencing growth and forecasting a busy summer season.

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Christchurch CBD Awakens

As construction projects inch closer to completion and companies begin to return to the CBD, the Christchurch business community is enjoying ‘a renewed sense of optimism’, the New Zealand Herald reports.

In this in-depth feature article, the Herald interviews a series of Christchurch businesspeople about the current climate, five years after the 2010 earthquake.

Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce general manager Leeann Watson told the Herald that businesses are now beginning to return to the CBD.

“All businesses had to move out of the central city because it was closed down for a considerable amount of time, so they didn’t have any choice but to go and set up elsewhere,” Ms Watson said.

“What we’re seeing now is those businesses have come back and are coming back.”

Christchurch’s regeneration is a positive sign for the tourism industry, with more people visiting the Garden City each year. Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism chief executive Tim Hunter is expecting this summer to be another busy season.

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ITC Industry News Bulletin #6

In this week’s Industry News Bulletin, autumn arrivals continue to drive positive growth, Rotorua tourism industry sees unusually busy winter and Qatar Airlines is once again named Airline of the Year

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 Autumn arrivals continue to drive positive growth

2015 is shaping up to be an amazing year for the tourism industry, with Tourism New Zealand reporting ‘record-setting’ holiday arrivals in autumn. In May alone total holiday arrivals were up by 16.5 per cent. Tourism New Zealand chief executive Kevin Bowler said the latest data “brings us even closer to an annual arrivals figure of three million”.  (more…)