Kiwi Link to Rekindle Tourism Ties Between New Zealand and India
Five years later, Tourism New Zealand revived one of its flagships B2B events, Kiwi Link India, in Mumbai. The tourism board said it was an "overwhelming success." The event was spread over for five days, had face-to-face and live virtual sessions bringing together the worldwide tourism delegates.
Kiwi Link, Tourism New Zealand’s flagship trade event, has just reopened its operations in India. With this move, New Zealand’s tourism businesses have connected with major Indian distribution partners and travel agents nationwide. In a press statement, Tourism New Zealand indicated that 41 representatives from different segments of New Zealand’s travel and tourism industry participated in the event.
These delegates were airlines, airports, experienced curators, guides, hotels, and tour operators in 1,600 business-to-business meetings that brought them face-to-face—after five years—with 65 Indian buyers.
Speaking on the extensive platform, René de Monchy, Chief Executive of Tourism New Zealand, said that it allowed hundreds of New Zealand businesses to showcase their diversity of offerings for Indian buyers. For buyers, this provides critical insights on how to create off-peak experiences in New Zealand. A detailed frontline product training session was conducted offline and online to provide better destination know-how. This saw the participation of 98 buyers offline and 200 online.
TNZ called it an ‘overwhelming success’ and an indication of India’s desire for New Zealand tourism and a new commitment to building a flourishing partnership between the two nations. “In 2023, Indian arrivals were overtaking the market in 2019 and were up 84,315, representing 126% of arrivals in New Zealand. This was a total of 20,100 holiday arrivals from India, about 71% more than the reports of 2019,” stated Tourism New Zealand.
