Tourism NZ CEO Kevin Bowler on moving on from Middle Earth, using data and why Australia is now their only traditional advertising market
Kevin Bowler is the CEO of Tourism New Zealand, the creator of one of the world’s longest-running tourism campaigns, 100% Pure New Zealand.
In this interview with Mumbrella Asia editor Robin Hicks at New Zealand’s High Commission in Singapore, Bowler talks about the new ‘Every day a different journey’ campaign, developing a 15 year-old idea in consultation with Maori elders, and how the organisation is using data to convert the curious into visitors.
A number of countries in the region have been having a tough time attracting tourists recently, including Singapore, which saw a decline in tourist visits in the first quarter of this year. Are you facing the same problem?
No. Our numbers are up 6.9 per cent year on year. Visitor spend is up 20 per cent. We have a very strong tourism sector, and the numbers from the emerging economies continue to strengthen. We’re also seeing growth from markets like Europe and the United States. We just had a record June, with a total annual arrivals peaking at three million international visitors.
It doesn’t matter where you stand,anywhere in the world. You will be standing as a part of the history of that place. That this is true, is slightly easier to realise in New Zealand, because the bush clad, wildly diverse, and incredibly beautiful place is small, and not very old.
Compared to many places, NZ also has a lot more of its natural beauty and its ancient history still in tact, and although it seems that the truly indigenous people may be all gone, the second wave, the proud and majestic Maori (in residence long before the European arrived) are still there in large numbers, and in a prominent and powerful position.
When I first arrived in NZ in the 1960s, I saw one day a roughly painted sign made by intermediate school pupils, it read Haere Mai. I asked a Pakeha boy nearby what it meant, he turned out to be a Dutch boy, and he told me that it meant Welcome.
“It’s Maori” he said; his screwed up face indicating that he might have thought I was a Martian. That was the first day of a long learning curve for me, and a fascinating association with NZ and its people.
Love this. Really gets into the detail and ideas behind the brand, which is then supported with visitor statistics and data. Great work, journo and interviewee.
Sound of Music was set in Austria, not Switzerland.