The Tourism Export Council of New Zealand (TECNZ) invites expressions of interest for the role of Chief Executive Officer.

TECNZ is an Incorporated Society representative and is governed by a member elected governance Board.  The CEO role is currently based in Wellington.

As a trade membership organisation, TECNZ represents and supports the interests of the inbound tourism industry. TECNZ’s memberships comprises of inbound tourism operators, tourism product suppliers and tourism service businesses and organisations.

The CEO shall be responsible and accountable for leading and managing excellence in all aspects of the organisation and to report to the Board in a timely and efficient manner.

Candidates should have extensive tourism experience at a senior level, be an effective communicator at all levels, including advocating to government and other stakeholder groups on behalf of members. The candidate should be able to demonstrate excellent leadership and management experience.

This is a hands-on role and will suit strategic thinking candidates who have strong operational and administration skills yet able to develop and manage relationships at senior levels within a range of associated organisations.

Applications close Wednesday 31 May 2017. Expressions of interest are invited to apply to:

Martin Horgan

Chairman – Tourism Export Council of New Zealand

mhorgan@southernworld.com

Tourism Export Council NZ (TECNZ) Chairman Martin Horgan has today confirmed the resignation of
CEO Lesley Immink after six years leading the organisation.

“Lesley has been an inspiring leader and shown great vision to strategically develop TECNZ into a
position where TECNZ’s profile and influence both within and outside of our industry provides real
relevance to our members, the wider industry and in Wellington.”

“Lesley has been a fantastic communicator and networker and those skills and effort have opened
many doors and opportunities for TECNZ over the last six years. Her ability to manage independence
vs. alignment of our association with many influencers both inside and outside the industry means
she leaves the association in a strong position.”

“Her advocacy skills in representing the best interests of the tourism industry will stand her in good
stead as she explores a new opportunity in the world of national politics. On behalf of the Board we
wish to thank Lesley for her work and commitment to success, and wish her all the very best in her
new endeavours.”

Lesley will leave us in July (date to be determined) and we will immediately implement a recruitment
process for a new CEO.

Immigration New Zealand has announced a range of changes to the Immigration New Zealand
Operational Manual and among them a work visa exemption for international tour escorts much to
gratification of inbound tour operators.

Amendment Circular 2017-05, has most of the changes effective from 8 May 2017, with amendments
related to a new visitor visa for international tour escorts coming into effect on 22 May 2017.

Chief Executive Lesley Immink of the Tourism Export Council NZ (TECNZ) is rapt with the outcome
and indicates that it is reflective of the good communication and increased understanding between
TECNZ and Immigration/customs officials in recognising the value that the sector provides to New
Zealand.

“These changes will mean that tour escorts will be able to travel to New Zealand as visitors .
Previously, policy required that tour escorts hold work visas, so this change will mean easier visa
applications for tour escorts from visa-required countries (who will be eligible to apply for visitor visas
rather than work visas), and visa-free travel to NZ for tour escorts from visa-waiver countries.

This brings international tour escorts in line with other work visa exemption groups including: business
sales representatives, visiting sports teams, events, conference and entertainment staff and
management teams.”

A tour escort has a different role from a tour guide and persons intending to travel to New Zealand as
a tour guide are required to obtain a work visa.

More information can be found on the INZ website or contact Lesley Immink.

TOURISM INDUSTRY CAUTIONS GOVERNMENT TO IGNORE FRESHWATER CONCERNS AT OWN PERIL!

Tourism Export Council NZ (TECNZ) has submitted to the Clean Water consultation document and
is concerned that we are heading down a path where freshwater quality could lead to
reputational damage to our ‘clean green’ marketing promise we share with the world.

Our country’s freshwater policy must reflect the love and connection our people have with their
rivers, streams and lakes by putting in place meaningful limits and strong legal protection to
support the work of councils and communities.

Instead, the Clean Water consultation document, which indicates 90% of New Zealand’s rivers will
be swimmable by 2040, is a mass of smoke and mirrors which fails to address responsibility for
fresh water-ways pollution.

The National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM) in its current form is
nothing more than a PR-stunt from Government who continue to ignore scientists and expert
opinion re the state of our freshwater. The NPS-FM does not address the serious problems facing
our waterways and, in fact, will make them worse.

To add insult to injury, as an amendment to the Resource Management Act (RMA), government
have craftily included “economic well-being and productive economic opportunities” criteria for
Regional Councils who make freshwater allocation and protection decisions. The changes will
effectively undermine environmental protection in the existing freshwater policy statement by
requiring “economic well-being and productive economic opportunities” to be given the same
status as the environment.

TECNZ (like TIA) were stunned to see that the tourism industry is not being perceived as one of
the industries that rely on fresh water quality in the economic criteria used to identify vulnerable
catchments for water bodies appropriate for applying for the Freshwater Improvement Fund. This
shows a disappointing lack of understanding of the importance of fresh water to the tourism
industry and how important the tourism industry is to the New Zealand economy.

CEO Lesley Immink adds “it’s incredible that Government is solely focused on protecting the
economic wealth of an industry sector that continues to pollute the environment. There is no
point of any mitigation measures if the root cause of waterway degradation is allowed to
continue at the rate the Government is encouraging.”

“Clean water is the essence of life. It’s vital for us every single day personally, and for us as a
country to be able to enjoy the benefits socially, culturally and economically. The people of New
Zealand are starting to take notice and it won’t be long before our international reputation is
damaged and we’ll have to suffer the consequences.”

Promoting tourism businesses on Social Media is a dream come true job for any Social Media Manager!

This role is for someone with experience in planning creative and effective social media strategies across multiple platforms that highlight our customers’ brand and provide the ROI they deserve.

You will need to be hungry to learn and challenge yourself to stay on top of the ever-changing social landscape. New apps? You’ve already installed them. Algorithm updates? You’re ahead of the curve and adapting them before our clients or their competitors do.

You are a curator extraordinaire, a planner, a strategist and you are motivated by the results you and the team can achieve when a campaign goes off across all measurements.

You’re a strong writer with attention to detail, and you love hunting for new and innovative ways to leverage every tool and tactic the various social platforms provide. Tracking and measuring results based on data needs is an addiction.

Although the company has a phenomenal creative team, design and content experience is a strong asset that is valued in this role.

You’ll be managing clients from strategy development to channel engagement to ad campaigns, and interact with tourism clients on a global scale.

We’re looking for a social media extraordinaire with minimum 3+ years of experience who can hit the ground running. You’ll join a team of creative marketing and tourism professionals, where every day is an exciting new adventure.

Agency and/or tourism industry experience is a bonus, as is Weibo experience.

Core Skills

• Facebook Business Manager – you live and breathe it
• Ad campaigns management
• Hootsuite
• Pinterest, Snapchat, Linkedin
• Content Management Systems
• Strategy Development
• Adobe Creative Suite
• Google Analytics
• Project Management
• Content Production

Facebook Certification – Blueprint Certification preferred but not required

Our North Auckland office is centrally located with a park next to us, a beach not far and lots of cafes within walking distance. Our office coffee is great, our Friday afternoon celebrations are even better. We have a great team culture of “T-Hawks”, with offices in the United States and New Zealand.

To apply visit:

https://www.seek.co.nz/job/33153829?type=promoted&tier=no_tier&pos=1&whereid=1018&userqueryid=3a11dc844849d8bf5d60705db55b77c5-5124283&ref=beta

Inside Tourism – Wed 22 March 2017

DESPITE international holiday arrivals being up 15 percent in the year to January NZ is losing up to 20 percent of new business – thanks to a shortage of hotel rooms.

As a result TEC inbound members called a meeting with hoteliers and revenue managers to discuss the lack of hotel inventory and pricing in Auckland, Rotorua and Queenstown.

TEC CEO Lesley Immink tells IT there was general recognition by all that wholesale, corporate, crew, groups and FIT business was up but limited hotel inventory and price increases, were contributing factors re the substantial loss of business for the season.

“The word from offshore trade was that NZ had reached its ceiling for accommodation pricing and careful consideration needs to be had re more price increases,” she says.

“NZ is now viewed as a very expensive destination compared to Europe and others parts of the world and we need to check our value proposition re price, such as paying 5-star prices for a 3 -star hotel, and the ability to complete itineraries.

“Not being able to complete an itinerary with our key destinations and attractions included is akin to a Kiwi wanting to travel to France but not able to visit Paris, Nice or the Beaujolais wine region – so instead they visit Germany.”

During Chinese New Year, it was reported that some product suppliers in Rotorua and Queenstown did not receive as many visitors and that spend was down. That also related to accommodation pricing as less disposable spend available to participate in attractions and activities.

“It’s the law of unintended consequences and while in the first instance high rates affect group tours and inbound clients, it has also affected product supplier profitability. “

Hoteliers told the meeting they have been releasing more wholesale rooms to trade but that the demand from ITOs and across other sectors was high and that there were not enough rooms to feed the demand, which leads to premium pricing.

“Hotels indicated that ITOs should be preparing for dynamic pricing with static pricing on the decrease and not likely to change in the future,” Ms Immink says.

“Feedback from ITOs illustrated that at times multi rooms have been available online and that some offshore agents are finding the rooms at less than the wholesale rate online which is very frustrating and damages the ITO’s reputation. This is a serious issue as once offshore travel trade stop selling NZ it hurts the relationship with offshore wholesale and retail chains who spend a lot of money and effort in promoting NZ on our behalf.”

Also of concern is the proposed Auckland Council commercial accommodation targeted rate. “ITOs are concerned for themselves and the accommodation sector should this be passed by Auckland Council. Accommodation owners and providers would need to pass on the rates increase and TEC members are not confident that offshore travel trade and consumers would be able to take any more price increases. “TEC is preparing a submission stating their support for the accommodation sector and the impacts of higher price increases to Auckland and NZ as a destination.

PRESTIGE PACIFIC has 15 years of successful New Zealand-wide tour experience  with a proven track record in delivering memorable New Zealand experiences. For over a decade our travel specialists have crafted and customised quality, best value-for-money tours of New Zealand for independent and group travellers.

We are an independent inbound tour company, conveniently based in Auckland, and owner operated by our two, hands-on directors, Steven Hoon and lzzy Dugan. Between them Steven and lzzy share 38 years experience in the New Zealand tourism and business industry.

Special requests are our forte, from unique adventures to unusual dietary needs, you only need ask us, and we will work around the clock to deliver it.

Tourism company Southern Discoveries is investing in a fleet of state-of-the-art coaches to service new coach and cruise day trips from Queenstown to Milford Sound.

Three new purpose-built, low-emissions Scania 400EB coaches are being constructed by one of New Zealand’s top coach manufacturers to offer excellent viewing, comfort and enhanced safety.

They feature an extra-wide glass roof that makes the most of the majestic alpine scenery on this world-renowned journey, and comfortable reclining seats with plenty of leg room.

The announcement comes as Southern Discoveries celebrates impressive growth, with significant investment over the past eight years in its Milford Sound and Queenstown operations.

CEO Tim Hunter said the company prided itself on its exceptional customer service and was always looking for new ways to improve products and services to enhance the customer experience.

“With visitor numbers to Milford Sound continuing to rise, we’re expecting strong demand for our new coach and cruise day trips from Queenstown,” he said.

“The road to Milford Sound is a tourism experience in itself, and these new coaches will enable us to offer a seamless service from Queenstown, on vehicles and vessels that are purpose-built for sightseeing.

“We’ll provide multi-lingual commentary en route and ensure we have a number of day trip options to suit the needs of a wide range of visitors.”

Southern Discoveries is Milford Sound’s original cruise operator and has been owned by the Queenstown-based Skeggs family since 2008. The company now operates six cruising vessels and has 130 staff members in Queenstown, Te Anau and Milford Sound.

The company’s range of new experiences introduced over recent years include kayaking in Milford Sound, scenic cruises on Lake Wakatipu and cycling and high country farm experiences in Queenstown.

Southern Discoveries will launch its new coach and cruise products from Queenstown to Milford Sound from August 2017.

ENDS

TOURISM EXPORT COUNCIL NZ SCEPTICAL OF GOVERNMENT’S FRESHWATER ANNOUNCEMENT: 

On the surface the Government’s Freshwater announcement yesterday looks and sounds good, but the Tourism Export Council is sceptical the release is a smokescreen that disguises the true state of New Zealand’s Freshwater status and is seeking transparency and urgency from government re New Zealand’s declining water quality in the country’s rivers, lakes and streams.

The Prime Minister announced yesterday new standards for freshwater quality with 90% of waterways swimmable by 2040 – which on paper sounds like great news. The Tourism Export Council however joins many environmental groups to voice concerns that this announcement is a rouse and simply not good enough.

Firstly, without a sense of urgency pollution of our waterways will continue to worsen for the foreseeable future – something the Tourism Industry cannot afford.

Secondly, the Government’s definition of ‘swimmable’ is vastly different to what we believe most New Zealand would consider “swimmable”.

Previous, the Government’s measure for freshwater to be safe to drink or swim in has been 260 E coli units per 100 millilitres, that had now been pushed out to 540 units and if a body of freshwater meets that standard 80 per cent of the time, it is deemed ‘swimmable’. Quite simply the goalposts have been widened to ensure more rivers and streams fall within the govt’s threshold of ‘swimmable’.

Up until now, most councils have determined recreational water quality using Ministry of Health guidelines.  Those guidelines state that if you swim somewhere with an E coli level of 550 per 100mls, you have a one in 20 chance of contracting campylobacter.  This is effectively the Govt’s new definition of swimmable – a one in 20 chance of getting sick from swimming in our rivers and streams.  Clearly – not acceptable.

The Tourism Export Council’s chief executive Lesley Immink says there is a lot at stake with potential reputational damage a risk for New Zealand.

“Today’s visitors are environmentally aware and clean water is an essential aspect for New Zealand’s tourism and primary exports future. We have to be seen to be doing all we can to live up to 100% Pure New Zealand promise, backed up by meaningful policy,” Ms Immink says.

Last year, the Council supported the Choose Clean Water Campaign which highlighted that New Zealanders wanted swimmable water.  The campaign ended with a 13,000 signature petition being presented to Parliament calling for better freshwater quality.

Since then tour operators have given a mandate to the Council to continue to advocate for the protection of the environment.

“New Zealand could become the first genuinely sustainable nation.  It has the natural assets and people to make this possible but we risk these assets being eroded by poor decision making, poor business practices and careless decisions”.

We are better than the solutions presented yesterday.