- New Zealand has launched a new tourism campaign to stimulate its economy in the midst of a recession.
- The campaign targets Australians, who are the key to the tourist recovery of New Zealand post-pandemic.
- Residents criticized the campaign timing and its slogan, which some called the deaf.
The tourism sector of New Zealand needs a boost. But the country’s latest advertising campaign draws attention to bad reasons.
“Everyone must go!” The latest tourism campaign of the government of New Zealand reads the campaign of around $ 287,000 (500,000 NZD), launched on Sunday, is aimed at Australians, who represent 44% of the country’s annual international tourists.
Australian tourism figures in the island nation have still not recovered entirely after the pandemic, sitting 88% compared to 2019. And the New Zealand economy was weakened in 2024, falling into a recession with The highest unemployment rate in almost four years in November.
“What this tourism campaign in New Zealand says to our Australian comrades is that we are open to business, there is good deals and we would be delighted to see you soon,” said the Minister of Tourism Louise Upston in a press release. “The slogan of the campaign of” everyone must go “allows Australia to know that New Zealand is a destination” to visit “, and that we are ready and wait to welcome them now.”
But the inhabitants see it differently. The time of the campaign, which intervenes in the elimination of government’s jobs and a large number of New Zealanders who leave the country complain that the slogan is deaf – and repository in the bathroom.
“I think” everyone has to go “could refer to the need for toilets in some of our tourist places.
Brown and Labor tourism spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel agreed that the campaign has no long-term plan for industry.
“I mean, that makes New Zealand sounding as if we were in a jail at a sale,” Tangaere-Manuel told Rnz. “The irony of this messaging is, this is how New Zealandian Totearoa is currently feeling. There have been so many cuts, so people feel like” good, which is not on the list Cups “” added Tangaere-Manuel.
The government of New Zealand did not immediately respond to the request for comments from Business Insider on these criticisms.
This is not New Zealand’s first effort this year to attract more tourists. On January 27, the government attenuated visa restrictions to allow digital nomads to work remotely in the country.
About two weeks later, the government relaxed the restrictions on gold visas, known as the Active Investor Plus visas (AIP), to make them more flexible in order to attract more investors in New- Zealand.
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