Canterbury on show to the world

 

A host of international travel and tourism operators are in town this week, as part of the country's largest tourism trade show TRENZ. It's being held at Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre, with the four-day tourism business event returning to the garden city after a 17-year absence.

More than fifteen hundred delegates are attending, including more than 330 international buyers from 25 overseas markets. Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive Rebecca Ingram told delegates, tourism was not going to look like it did in the past, and will take 2-3 years before it settles into a new normal pattern. "International visitor arrivals over the past few months are sitting at around 66 per cent of pre-Covid levels.

It's a very strong initial recovery which has plateaued and that's not unexpected". Christchurch NZ Chief Executive Ali Adams said figures show that for every dollar a resident spends in Christchurch, a visitor spends six dollars. "Collectively, pre-Covid, Travel Agents drove about 70 per cent of all international visitors into our city and in turn through to the South Island. And that represented about $1b of spend in 2019 in Christchurch alone".

The tourism industry generated around $40b for the New Zealand economy in 2019. Industry leaders are hoping the TRENZ expo will be a springboard for the tourism industry, to return to its previous highs.

- By Geoff Sloan

- Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air