Air New Zealand and Tourism New Zealand will boost promotional activities in South America and the United States in the year ahead after extending their marketing partnership.
The two parties will each contribute NZ$10 million under the new agreement, Air NZ said on Monday.
In addition to the focus on the Americas – Air NZ is starting new Auckland-Houston and Auckland-Buenos Aires services in December – the Memorandum of Understanding will also include cooperative marketing activity in key regions such as China, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and Europe.
“Today’s announcement will see marketing activity increased in South America and the United States,” Air NZ said in a statement.
“Campaigns and activity will also focus on encouraging visitation to New Zealand during our spring and autumn months.”
This is the second time the Memorandum of Understanding that was first signed in 2013 has been renewed. By the end of this current deal, the two parties would have spent NZ$60 million over three years on joint marketing activities promoting travel to NZ in international markets, Air NZ said.
Tourism NZ chief executive Kevin Bowler said visitor numbers increased seven per cent to 2.94 million in 2013/14, with the partnership with Air NZ playing an important role in bringing tourists to the country.
“We know that working collaboratively extends the reach and effectiveness of our campaigns, and look forward to continuing to collaborate with Air New Zealand to build on the positive results we have achieved to date,” Bowler said.
Air NZ chief executive Christopher Luxon noted the partnership with Tourism NZ had been very successful in highlighting the many attractions the country had to offer.
“To give just one example of the power of this collaborative approach, Air New Zealand and Tourism New Zealand worked together on a winning bid and hosted China’s top reality TV program Dad, where are we going? to film in New Zealand,” Luxon said.
“As a result destination New Zealand was showcased to an enormous audience of more than 400 million people in China through television and a further 26 million through social media.”
