Direct tickets from emerging Asian tourism markets to Queenstown and Dunedin are a potential dividend of the $9 million marketing deal announced by Tourism New Zealand and Jetstar yesterday.
The tourism crown entity and the low-fare Qantas subsidiary agreed to contribute $1.5 million a year to joint brand, promotional and "tactical" campaigns, plus consumer events and print, online, television and social media activities.
The three-year agreement runs to mid-2014. The new partners described their first formal marketing partnership as the single largest push undertaken by the budget airline in New Zealand.
Asked what the partnership meant for Wakatipu and Southern residents and operators, Destination Queenstown chief executive Tony Everitt said the addition of Jetstar's resources to the ongoing push by DQ and Tourism NZ in Australia, Singapore, Japan and across Asia was going to be "very helpful for us".
Mr Everitt referred to DQ's promotion of the resort with Tourism New Zealand in Japan last year as an example of how partnerships could work.
"We talked with Jetstar people about their flights to New Zealand and, as a result, they put an air fare into the market that was Tokyo-Queenstown, not just Tokyo-New Zealand, so that customers could buy a fare all the way through to our own resort.
"We are hopeful that could be a possibility out of the Singapore market, or that whole southeast Asia market."
Asked if potential travellers in emerging markets wanted Queenstown as a holiday destination, Mr Everitt said there was certainly interest, but a lot of marketing work was needed.
"The irony is that not many people in the world know a lot about Queenstown, so the marketing job is a big one to do and to hear there's $9 million of additional resource to leverage that is very helpful."
Jetstar's low fares could open New Zealand up to a new generation of travellers, Jetstar Group chief executive Bruce Buchanan said yesterday.
"With our Singapore hub providing connections with 25 Asian destinations, it makes New Zealand an increasingly accessible holiday destination for an emerging middle class in China, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia," he said.
