Andrew Dickens: The Government’s new tourism campaign targeted at Australians is a no brainer.

The Government’s new tourism campaign targeted at Australians is a no brainer.  

A simple test is comparing how many New Zealanders have visited Australia compared to how many Australians have come here.  

I remember being at a conference in Sydney and asking around the room how many had been to New Zealand. There were none. Yet all had been to Queensland. including me. 

It’s a right of passage to visit Aussie.  

But it’s not a right of passage for Aussies to come here.  

So, imploring everyone must come here is a good thing.  

Shame on the Labour spokesperson who seemed to think such a plea was desperate.   

If we can imbue the belief in Australia that a visit to New Zealand is a must then that will continue to pay it’s way for generations. 

It’s the same with European visitors.    

The people I know who came here from Europe for their OE are now the families who return. Their kids having heard the legends form mum’s OE in New Zealand are the ones who come back.  

My partner’s OE was in Germany and her friend’s children are the ones who have come to New Zealand to find out more about the exotic foreigner who landed in their parents' midst. 

It’s important to remember that every time we go overseas and meet others we go as ambassadors.  

But for everywhere aside from Australia we are still a major trip with a big journey and bib bills.  

For Aussies we’re a 3-hour flight, we’re just like them but exotically different, our scenic delights are delightful and thanks to our stuttering economy and dollar we’re relatively cheap as chips. 

Of course, everyone there must come here. And their children and their children’s children and so on.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The government's new tourism campaign targeted at Australians I think
is a no brainer. A simple test is comparing how
many New Zealanders have visited Australia compared to how many
Australians have come here. I remember being at a conference
a while back in Sydney and we were asking around
the room how many of you have been to New Zealand.
They were done, and yet I then asked how many
of you guys have been to Queensland. Well, they all

(00:22):
had been, including me. You see, for Kiwi's it's a
right of passage to visit Australia, but it's not a
right of passage for Ossie's to come here. So imploring
everyone to come here, in fact, saying everyone must come here,
I think is a good thing. Shame on the Labor
spokesperson who was on the Telly last night who seemed
to think such a plea was desperate. I'm sorry, it's

(00:43):
not desperate. It's just got a bit of energy about it.
If we can imbue the belief in Australia that a
visit to New Zealander is must, then that will continue
to pay its way for generations. It's the same for
European visitors, the people I know who came here from
Europe for their own and became my friends here, and
now the parents of kids who then return. The kids

(01:05):
having heard the legends from mum Zoe and New Zealand
are the ones who come back. My partner Zoe was
in Germany and her friends' children's are the ones who
have come to New Zealand to find more found out
more about the exotic foreigner who landed in their parents' mints.
So it's important to remember that every time we go
overseas and meet others, we go as ambassadors and we

(01:26):
promote repeat business of inbound tourism here. But for everywhere
aside from Australia, we are still a major trip with
big journeys and big bills. So Australia is very cheap
and very important for Australians. We're a three hour flight.
We're just like them, We speak the same language as them,
but we're exotically different. Our scenic delights are delightful, and

(01:46):
thanks to our stuttering economy and dommer, we're relatively cheap
as chips. Of course, everyone there must come here and
their children and their children's children and so on. In fact,
this is our campaign that should never stop. This is
a campaign that we need to renew year after year
after year. For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge,

(02:08):
listen live to News Talks it be from five am weekdays,
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