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The Remarkables from the Coronet Peak access road. - Source: Genevieve King
Qantas and Tourism New Zealand have committed $4 million to promote New Zealand in the key tourism markets of Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany.
The Australian airline and the Government funded marketing entity today announced the two-year marketing partnership which is aimed at boosting visitor arrivals into New Zealand.
A memorandum of understanding was announced by Tourism New Zealand chief executive Kevin Bowler and Qantas regional general manager for New Zealand and the Pacific Islands Rohan Garnett at the tourism industry trade show Trenz 2012, being held in Queenstown.
The partners will each invest $2m between July 1 this year and June 30, 2014.
Garnett said the new agreement continued the strong relationship between the airline and Tourism NZ.
"By working together we hope to make a compelling case for visitors in key markets to visit New Zealand flying with Qantas," Garnett said.
"We particularly look forward to developing the inbound tourism market from Australia."
Bowler said the partnership approach to marketing was delivering impressive results.
Last year Tourism NZ supported a Qantas "great crusade" competition which offered free flights to New Zealand to follow the Wallabies.
"Around 70 per cent of those who saw the campaign agreed that it increased their interest in visiting New Zealand within 12 months," he said.
Qantas remained a significant airline out of the United States, Germany and Europe.
"We expect this partnership to help tackle some of the challenges we face in those markets with the high New Zealand dollar and global financial crises.
"Partnership agreements are expected to add an additional $25 million to Tourism NZ's $84 million annual budget in the year ending June 30, 2012."