Air Links Promise a Brighter Future
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I have spoken with a number of people across the industry, including those in the accommodation sector, about the number of international visitors coming through, where they are coming from and what they are spending. In general terms, businesses that are heavily exposed to the traditionally strong UK and US markets are finding the slow-down in arrivals a challenge, and others with broader market exposure are finding many visitors simply aren't spending like they did before the global financial crisis hit.
There are no simple solutions to these challenges, yet this year we are fortunate to have two major opportunities to help deliver new and valuable customers.
Rugby World Cup 2011 provides enormous immediate and longer-term opportunities for New Zealand, not only for the six weeks the Tournament is on, but also for the months and years following.
Much has already been written about this, so instead I wanted to focus on the other opportunity at hand; to create new custom to New Zealand from across the Asian Region.
In 2010 we saw l5 per cent growth for the entire region, with Asia now contributing more than 450,000 visitors per year. This is all the more important, when we see the decline in visitor numbers from the UK and USA, which were down nine per cent and four per cent respectively, in the year to December 2010.
The emergence of Asia as a key contributor to growth in visitor numbers has been made possible by strong Asian economies. Increased air links and air capacity into New Zealand will see this trend not only continue, but accelerate.
The good news is that we've recently seen a whole host of significant announcements from airlines that plan to open new air links into our country in coming months.
A link from Taipei to Auckland, via Brisbane, was opened by China Airlines in January, and Thai Airways announced in the same month that it would increase the frequency of its flights from Bangkok to Auckland from July. New Zealand will also benefit from a regular Jetstar service linking Singapore and Auckland from March and a China Southern Airlines direct service to Auckland from the South China city of Guangzhou, starting in April.
Christchurch and the South Island won't miss out on new direct air links either. AirAsia X is opening a direct service between Kuala Lumpur and Christchurch in April and Singapore Airlines has announced that it will increase the frequency of its flights from Singapore to Christchurch during the New Zealand winter. The biggest increase in arrival numbers during 2010 came from China up 20 per cent, but these new air links will also help keep the momentum going from the smaller but growing markets of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and India.
Combined, the additional services will provide more than 100,000 extra inbound seats this year for international visitors. Of course, there's no guarantee that all of the inbound seats will be sold - that's where our partnership activity and joint venture marketing is vitally important - but things are looking good so far. In the first six hours after seats on AirAsia X's Kuala Lumpur to Christchurch route went on sale last December, more than 17,000 were sold. That set a record for the launch of any AirAsia X route globally, and it bodes well for the future of the route.
Many economic commentators are predicting slowly improving economic fortunes in the UK and US in the next 12 months. If these two important markets start to strengthen, and we capitalise fully on the Rugby World Cup 2011, while Asian arrivals continue to grow, the year ahead should be a positive one for the accommodation sector.
Kevin Bowler
TNZ
