With the objective to grow the tourism traffic from India further in 2024, Tourism New Zealand, the national tourism agency, will be hosting Kiwi Link India from July 10-12 in Mumbai. 

According to a press statement by Tourism New Zealand, the show will see representatives of the New Zealand tourism industry educate and establish business relationships with key product managers and frontline travel sellers from India.

Furthering its Asian agenda, Tourism New Zealand has also announced that it will subsequently hold Kiwi Link Southeast Asia 2024 in Malaysia. On July 15-16, TNZ delegates are set to interact, learn from and build rapport with important travel vendors from all over Southeast Asia, it says.

These trade events come on the heels of strong provisional data for summer season, the statement adds. It says that from December 1, 2023 to January 7 shows 445,750 international visitors arrived, around 12 pc higher than the same period last year. International visitors also contributed USD 9 billion to the economy, says TNZ.

René de Monchy

“We are seeing booking patterns return to more normal shorter timeframes, so the campaign is aimed at encouraging travel through 2024 and also building some excitement for future travel,” says Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive René de Monchy. 

TNZ says that holiday arrivals from the United States recovered to 86 pc as of October 2023, a positive recovery for New Zealand’s second largest important visitor market. American visitors contributed USD 1.25 billion to the economy in the year to September 2023.

Air capacity has grown to around 120 pc of pre-pandemic levels for the summer months as new airlines and routes have opened.

“While summer visitation is important, Tourism New Zealand works hard to encourage visitation across the year which helps grow the sector’s overall productivity and supports businesses being able to operate sustainably,” says de Monchy.