Being Nice Makes Business Sense

Tourism NZ has launched a new campaign encouraging Australians to travel to NZ at different times of the year. At the same time, it urges New Zealanders to ease up on the traditional taunting of tourists from across the Tasman, causing the NZ Herald to dub the campaign Be-Nice-to-Australians month. “We rib each other, there is no doubt about it,” said Tourism NZ chief George Hickton in the Sydney Morning Herald. “We know no-one wants to get ribbing the whole time. I have heard it (taunts) said and thought people should back off.” The campaign could be addressing more than just neighbourly niceties: Australia is NZ’s biggest tourism market, with visitor numbers currently reaching 900,000 a year.