MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Tourism New Zealand picks Sao Paulo as base for Latin American activity

NZ Prime Minister John Key made the announcement at the Latam Business Council

Tourism New Zealand will open a new office in Sao Paulo, Brazil to serve as the base of its new Latin American activity. The announcement was made by Prime Minister John Key and the Minister of Tourism, at the Latin American Business Council lunch this week.

Latin America has been identified as an “emerging market” that offers significant growth potential for tourism in New Zealand.

In Budget 2013/14, the Government announced an additional 123 million NZ dollars in funding for Tourism New Zealand over four years, with 44.5 million tagged specifically to attracting visitors from emerging growth markets.

Tourism New Zealand’s Chief Executive Kevin Bowler says research into the Latin American markets of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico revealed that Brazil is the market which offers the most significant opportunity.

“In the last couple of months we have undertaken a detailed analysis of the region’s potential for visitors to New Zealand.

“We have conducted interviews with trade and industry experts and consulted MFAT, NZTE and Education NZ. At the same time, we have put into the field consumer studies in Chile and Brazil.

“Through all of this, Brazil came up trumps. Currently over half of our Brazilian visitors come to New Zealand for holiday purposes and they stay on average for 13 days. There’s great opportunity for growth.

“The key to building New Zealand’s position as a desirable tourism destination in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America is having a team in-market.

“We have just begun the recruitment process for a staff of three. From here we will start building relationships with the travel trade and media, and will launch marketing campaigns to capture the opportunity. “

The Sao Paulo office will report to Gregg Anderson, Tourism New Zealand’s General Manager Western Markets, based in Los Angeles.

Last week, Tourism New Zealand also announced the launch of four new market versions of its consumer website newzealand.com, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Indonesia with translations provided in Spanish, Portuguese and Bahasa Indonesia.

Tourism New Zealand currently has 12 offices world-wide, with two in New Zealand. The new Sao Paulo office brings the number to 13. Tourism New Zealand also plans to open an office in Indonesia as part of its Emerging Markets strategy.