There and Back Again: Interview With Tourism New Zealand’s Gregg Anderson

The last few years have been something of a roller coaster ride for New Zealand and its tourism. Between the earthquakes that devastated Christchurch in 2010 and 2011 and the Wellington quake of 2013, the country could have used the steady support of a healthy tourism, but New Zealand had a slow recovery in its important high-end markets from the economic crisis of late 2008. “The Hobbit” has come to the rescue in the new series of films from Peter Jackson, and brought a new interest much as the Lord of the Rings did between 2000 and 2003. We caught up with Gregg Anderson at the ITB in Berlin in early March.

TravelPulse: First off, how is the recovery of Christchurch proceeding after the devastating earthquakes of 2010 and 2011?

Gregg Anderson: Christchurch is making a good recovery, adding hotels both new and refurbished in all categories. The trains are running again and the shopping district is open. The spirits of the city were somewhat revived by the creative reaction to the quakes. Projects like the Cardboard Cathedral called forth a creative response that is building a new city. In two years Christchurch will emerge as a truly 21^st century city, a modern city with lots of open space. The debate within the city is over and the old Victorian Christchurch is gone, but in its place a new city is rising, different but bold.

Another change brought on by the quakes comes from the redistribution of tourists. Christchurch has always been the center and focal point of the Canterbury Region, but the quake forced visitors to explore the region outside of Christchurch, which has spread the good of tourism more widely as they explore smaller towns.”

TP: How has New Zealand’s nascent cruise industry been performing?

GA: New Zealand cruising in 2013 was up about 10 percent out of the U.S., or about 40,000 American cruisers. It’s very important that cruise ships can turn around in Auckland, because that leads to a lot of pre- and post-exploring. Most of them do that. Others board in Sydney and cruise to Auckland for a three to four day stay. Altogether we’re up 13 to 14 percent or put another way back to about 201,000 annual American arrivals. It’s a recovery from when the economy sank in late 2008.”

TP: Has “The Hobbit” had any impact on your success?

GA: “Since January of last year we’ve been jumping and the Hobbit has been a major force behind that. Hobbiton has become our biggest attraction. We learned a lot from our first go round with J.R.R. Tolkien and this time we were able to get the marketing just right. A huge percentage of our target audience, about 80 percent, is motivated to some degree by the Hobbit. Even The Bachelor, when it was filmed here, stayed in a Hobbit hotel.

The top end of the market has come back strongly and there’s lots of new product for them like the Annandale Private Villa Experience. Golf has also grown into a major market for us. Maori culture has also grown stronger and stronger as an attraction and it continues to evolve as an interpretive set of experiences with lots of storytelling.