Traveling Blog: Supporting the reconnecting plan

Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Supporting the reconnecting plan – what you need to know

3 February 2022

Kia ora,

Today, the New Zealand Government announced further detail about its Reconnecting New Zealanders to the World plan. The 5-step plan outlines a phased approach to the return of New Zealand citizens, the opening of our borders to visitors from Australia and visa waiver countries, then the rest of the world over the coming months. The plan takes a phased approach to return of visitors to ensure that New Zealand’s people and health system are protected as much as possible.

While we all know things can change in a heartbeat, it is positive to have these steps outlined as we head into a new year and into planning for 2023 and beyond. It will guide our activity and set the momentum for Tourism New Zealand to focus on its core role of maximising the value of visitors.

The plan enables visitors from Australia and visa waiver countries to enter New Zealand by July 2022. This includes other key markets such as the UK and the USA. The immediate opportunity here is for the Australian market. Prior to COVID-19, Australians made up almost 40% of international arrivals to New Zealand and contributed around 24% or $2.7 billion of New Zealand's annual international visitor spend. The government has indicated that measures such as self-isolation and testing may still be required to be in place as visitation opens up. If this is the case, this is something we will need to work through in our approach as more is known. We will also continue to work closely with the Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs).

The 5-step plan also outlines the approach to allowing skilled workers and those with working holiday visas. I’m sure this will be welcomed by those of you who have faced the challenges of a limited workforce over the last couple of years.

The final step is the reopening of New Zealand’s border to all international other visitors from October 2022.

Tourism New Zealand’s international plans for 2022 remain focused on maintaining and building our brand to ensure we remain desirable and then to scale up conversion activity aligned with the Reconnecting New Zealanders to the World plan.

As we get closer to the border reopening, I’ll share more information on our plans and opportunities for you to leverage our activity. In the meantime, I encourage you all to get up to date with the plan, latest consumer insights and consider how you might position your experiences to appeal to visitors. More insight on this will be available in our upcoming webinars. Keep an eye on your inbox for information on the next webinar next week.

As always - if you have any questions, feedback, or want to get in touch, please contact us.