What if our plan for more visitors fails?
Tourism in NZ has one of the lowest labour productivity rates in the country. Which means for every hour we work we make less money than almost anyone else.
So this uncomfortable question - what if we fail - is one every tourism business, destination and government should be asking in the pursuit of good growth.
And yet, the most common answer we hear is that more visitors will fix our growth!
It's like trying to fix a leaky bucket by pouring in more water.
even if the visitors do come the current system could be designed to capture more value.
So instead of asking, “How do we get more visitors?” we should ask, “How do we make the most of the ones we have?”
A smarter tourism system is one that…
Sweat the assets: increase capacity through smarter utilisation. It’s what ski areas do when they install gondolas that serve skiers in winter and sightseers/mountain bikers in summer. It’s the cafe that flips into a wine bar at night. It’s a boat that runs scenic cruises by day and ferries locals home inbetween. It starts by asking, in what other ways can this same asset work harder and deliver value?
Uses tech to scale + delight: Automate the boring bits, personalise the magic in person. Not because AI is trendy but because it saves time and elevates the guest experience. THis is what Host-tech Queenstown is all about.
Builds product (not just promo): If there’s nothing compelling to do, no amount of marketing will fix it... Regional dispersal doesn’t happen by accident; it follows gravity of great experiences.
Fixes the leaky bucket: Strategic sales means: Understand your third-party (and the leakage that flows). Own your direct sales. Own your margins. Track your data. If you grow visitors but 40% of your booking revenue still goes offshore before guests even arrive… is that good growth?
Designs for resilience: What happens when flights stop, earthquakes hit or consumer habits shift? The best businesses can adapt with a change of action but strategy that remains the same. In the pursuit of fat international wallets don't forget domestic (they're NZ biggest market!).
Never stops working on the guest experience - this is foundational to our tourism system (and having the best visitor experience in your market is never a bad idea) and should be part of our first principles of industry strategy.
More visitors might be the reward but it shouldn’t be the only plan.
I'm optimistic we can do something about it. This is why I love destination management - codesign it, build it, promote it and reap the rewards. It's why working with Doppelmayr New Zealand Ltd means I get to help bring these ideas to life. It's why working with new businesses launching in tourism is so enjoyable - their focus on the guest experience is so fresh! It's the combination of things that keeps me believing that bold action in the right direction will help make a difference.
Tourism has a legacy of doing it the way we've always done it - never more true than post Covid it seems.
The good news is there's much we can do to ride the wave of an exciting tourism future (even if all our visitor growth dreams don't come true) that isn't tied to the past 🌊