Tourism in New Zealand - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Tourism is an important industry in New Zealand, contributing NZ$

New Zealand dollar

The New Zealand dollar is the currency of New Zealand. It also circulates in the Cook Islands , Niue, Tokelau, and the Pitcairn Islands. It is divided into 100 cents....

15 billion (or 9%) of the country's gross domestic product in 2010. It is also New Zealand's largest export industry, with about 2.4 million international tourists visiting per year (as of September 2009), providing 18% of the country's export earnings in 2010. New Zealand is marketed abroad as a "clean, green" adventure playground, with typical destinations being nature areas such as Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Milford Sound is a fjord in the south west of New Zealand's South Island, within Fiordland National Park, Piopiotahi Marine Reserve, and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site...

, Abel Tasman National Park

Abel Tasman National Park

Abel Tasman National Park is a national park located at the north end of the South Island of New Zealand. The park was founded in 1942, largely through the efforts of ornithologist and author Perrine Moncrieff to have land reserved for the purpose. With a coverage of only 225.3 square kilometres,...

or the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, while activities such as bungee jumping

Bungee jumping

Bungee jumping is an activity that involves jumping from a tall structure while connected to a large elastic cord. The tall structure is usually a fixed object, such as a building, bridge or crane; but it is also possible to jump from a movable object, such as a hot-air-balloon or helicopter, that...

or whale watching

Whale watching

Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and other cetaceans in their natural habitat. Whales are watched most commonly for recreation but the activity can also serve scientific or educational purposes. A 2009 study, prepared for IFAW, estimated that 13 million people went whale watching...

exemplify typical tourist attractions, often marketed primarily to individual- and small-group travellers.

The vast majority of tourist arrivals to New Zealand come through Auckland Airport which handled over eleven million passengers in 2004. Many international tourists also spend time in Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

, Queenstown

Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It is built around an inlet called Queenstown Bay on Lake Wakatipu, a long thin Z-shaped lake formed by glacial processes, and has spectacular views of nearby mountains....

, Rotorua

Rotorua

Rotorua is a city on the southern shores of the lake of the same name, in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand. The city is the seat of the Rotorua District, a territorial authority encompassing the city and several other nearby towns...

, and Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

. Other high-profile destinations include the Bay of Islands

Bay of Islands

The Bay of Islands is an area in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located 60 km north-west of Whangarei, it is close to the northern tip of the country....

, Waitomo Caves

Waitomo Caves

The Waitomo Caves are a village and cave system forming a major tourist attraction in the southern Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand, 12 kilometres northwest of Te Kuiti. The community of Waitomo Caves itself is very small, though the village has many temporary service workers...

, Aoraki / Mount Cook, and Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Milford Sound is a fjord in the south west of New Zealand's South Island, within Fiordland National Park, Piopiotahi Marine Reserve, and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site...

. Many tourists travel large distances through the country during their stays, typically using coach lines or hire cars.

Domestic tourism is also important, with domestic tourism expenditure of $13 billion outweighing international tourist expenditure of $9 billion in 2010. Overall, tourism supports some 180,000 full-time equivalent jobs (10% of the New Zealand workforce), with half directly related to tourism.

Overview

The country is internationally seen as a top holiday destination, shown by receiving awards like being voted most favourite destination by the readers of the Condé Nast Traveler
Condé Nast Traveler
Condé Nast Traveler is a US magazine published by Condé Nast. It has its origins in a mailing sent out by the Diners Club club beginning in 1953, listing locations that would take the card. It began taking advertising in 1955. In order to attract more advertisers, it became a full-fledged magazine,...

magazine (specialising in luxury travels) in 2008, though it slipped to second place in 2009, and was also named the best overseas holiday destination in a 2007 The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...

poll, the United Kingdom's largest such poll. Since the start of a 2000 advertising campaign by Tourism New Zealand

Tourism New Zealand

Tourism New Zealand is the national institution tasked with promoting New Zealand as a tourism destination internationally. It is the trading name of the New Zealand Tourism Board, a Crown entity established under the New Zealand Tourism Board Act 1991...

, there has been a 61% increase in the number of Britons coming to New Zealand.

Tourism New Zealand

Tourism New Zealand

, the country's official tourism agency, is actively promoting the country as a destination worldwide. Recent activities include a NZ$7 million campaign in China, concentrating on Shanghai, and cooperating to produce a New Zealand tourism layer for Google Earth

Google Earth

Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite...

, the first country to receive such a treatment.

Environmental impacts

Public concern over the environmental impacts of air travel may threaten tourism growth in New Zealand, as almost all tourists fly long distances to reach New Zealand. However, Ministry of Tourism data predicts a four per cent annual growth in tourist numbers in New Zealand, with 3.2 million tourists annually to be reached in 2014.

It is however unclear how New Zealand's carbon-neutral policy will affect future tourism – with some researchers arguing that the carbon emissions of tourism are much higher than generally considered, that their offsetting or mitigation will be very difficult, and that this poses a serious threat to the country's major source of foreign income.

Domestic travel

Periodic campaigns are also directed at New Zealanders, urging them to travel within New Zealand instead of overseas, due to a perception by the tourism industry that too many New Zealanders are travelling to Australia or other countries instead of domestically. Perhaps the best known slogan is "Don't leave town until you've seen the country". However, due to lack of competition, fares for some domestic flights can be higher than those for flights to, for example, Australia.

Domestic tourism was worth NZ$7.6 billion (including transport costs) in the year ending March 2007, a growth of 9.1 per cent on the year before. Domestic tourism itself was growing by 1 to 1.5 per cent a year in the recent years, as noted by the Ministry of Tourism.

Tourist activities

Popular tourist activities in New Zealand include sightseeing, adventure tourism, tramping (hiking) and camping

Camping

Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...

. To support active travel, New Zealand has created numerous walking and hiking paths (often created and maintained by the DOC), some of which, like the Milford Track

Milford Track

The Milford Track is a widely known tramping route in New Zealand – located amidst mountains and temperate rain forest in Fiordland National Park in the southwest of the South Island....

, have huge international recognition. There is also a walking route the length of the country, Te Araroa Trail

Te Araroa Trail

Te Araroa is New Zealand's newest long distance tramping route, from Cape Reinga to Bluff. It is being built by the Te Araroa Trust and is opening on 3 December 2011....

, which is in the process of being finished as of the late 2000s, and a proposed New Zealand Cycleway.

Direct flights from Australia to Queenstown have also boosted overseas winter tourism. Ecotourism

Ecotourism

Ecotourism is a form of tourism visiting fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas, intended as a low impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial tourism...

is also become an increasing segment of the tourism market, and both tourism spends and trip duration are relatively high, due to the remote location of the country attracting few short-trip visitors.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Overview

Environmental impacts

Domestic travel

Tourist activities

See also

External links