Guest editorial: The re-imagination of New Zealand tourism

Citation

Reichenberger, I. and Yeoman, I.S. (2022), "Guest editorial: The re-imagination of New Zealand tourism", Journal of Tourism Futures, Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 146-150. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-06-2022-277

26th March 2020: lockdown

In 2019, international tourism was New Zealand's largest export industry (MBIE, 2019). On 26 March 2020, the borders were closed, and international tourism disappeared virtually overnight. The cause of this was COVID-19, and New Zealand was not alone. Virtually, every country's tourist arrivals were affected and continued to be for most of the next two years with significantly reduced air transport links, border restrictions and entry barriers, self-isolation requirements and measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 that impacted, especially hospitality businesses and also the way in which both the public and private tourism sectors were able to operate (UNWTO, 2020). After the initial disruption, tourism in New Zealand and globally found itself on hold for the foreseeable, as well as uncertain and unpredictable, future. It was not long before pictures of popular and notoriously overcrowded tourist destinations received attention – an empty Piazza San Marco in Venice, a deserted Trevi Fountain in Rome and China's Great Wall devoid of people. In line with this, photographs of usually strongly polluted areas that began to see the impact of reduced mobility and manufacturing activity also received attention. The global tourism community recognised the potential positive implications of the crisis caused by COVID-19, and calls for a re-imagination of tourism towards a more sustainable and holistically beneficial approach were heard everywhere, including, of course, in New Zealand: a country known for marketing itself for over 20 years with the slogan “100% Pure New Zealand” (McClure, 2004) and its natural scenery as the main attraction for nearly four million international visitors per year. Local communities, especially in highly frequented areas, have become increasingly critical of New Zealand's approach to international tourism over recent years, citing negative environmental impacts and overburdened and insufficient infrastructure as the main reasons (Tourism Industry Aotearoa, 2020). As such, the discussion quickly turned to identifying not only where New Zealand's tourism-related weaknesses were but what tourism futures the public and private sectors, our communities and people, were envisioning.

A critical mind

The role of universities in New Zealand is defined by the Section 162(4) of the Education Act 1989 (Parliament, 1989) and assigns tertiary education institutions a role as “critic and conscience of society”. Further, a university “maintains, advances, disseminates and assists the application of, knowledge, develops intellectual independence, and promotes community learning”. A sort of critical mind!

As tourism academia began to explore the impacts of Covid-19 on its industry and environment, the Tourism Management group at Te Herenga Waka – the Victoria University of Wellington was no different. One of the initiatives we were involved in was the re-imagination of New Zealand tourism post COVID-19 through a series of webinars [1] covering a range of topics from tourist behaviour, responsible tourism, sustainable tourism, regenerative tourism, food tourism, scenarios for the future, climate change, revenue management, smart destinations, capitalism and destination planning. Speakers included Stephen England Hall (CEO of Tourism New Zealand), UNWTO Ulysses Prize winners Professor Susanne Becken (Griffith University) and Professor Emerita Pauline Sheldon (University of Hawaii), Riddell Graham (VisitScotland) and Professor Sherri Kimes (Cornell University). Combined, the knowledge created through the webinar series contributed to a debate about the re-imagination of New Zealand tourism post-COVID-19. This special issue of the Journal of Tourism Futures is an extension of those webinars in which speakers were invited to contribute a paper explaining their research or ideas about the future of New Zealand tourism.

COVID-19 arrives: which direction?

As Chris Roberts, CEO of New Zealand's tourism industry association “Tourism Industry Aotearoa”, said (2022, p. 1),

COVID-19 plunged tourism off the cliff in New Zealand. What did this mean for the country, how did we respond and what is the future?

This was an industry that was lost, as the situation had not been faced before. In his role, Chris Roberts was at the centre of New Zealand tourism. He was the leader, the person on television, in the newspapers, representing the businesses that were previously dependent on international tourists. Roberts (2022) reflects on his role, his engagement with government and how he navigated through the crisis.

As New Zealand's borders were closed, the only tourism industry was a domestic one. Yeoman et al. (2022b) explored domestic tourists' thinking and their behaviour during COVID-19 between 2020 and 2021. Using a prognosis–prediction paradigm from futures studies and a trend analysis approach, the authors forecast a series of tourist trends at the beginning of COVID-19 based upon a multitude of sources. Then, 12 months later, they reported on the accuracy of these forecasts. The trends were clustered dominant, slowed, advanced or arrested. The significance of the approach was the use of a trends analysis framework that allows researchers to understand the movement of trends, which could be applied in different situations.

As futures studies is grounded in Dator's Law (Dator, 2019) in which the future cannot be predicted but alternative futures can be forecasted, the concept of plurality is at the centre of futures studies, and scenario planning is the main methodology to envision the future (Amer et al., 2013; Yeoman and McMahon-Beattie, 2014). Using these principles, Yeoman et al. (2022c) created four scenarios that were used to make sense of the fast-moving pace of COVID-19 and the consequences for New Zealand tourism. The four scenarios constructed were based on two critical uncertainties, namely economic recession and the moral dilemma of the consumer. The value of the paper lies in the fluid situation of COVID-19 as the paper reminds readers of the value of scenarios as framing devices when faced with uncertainty and unchartered waters.

The desire for new future: regeneration

COVID-19 appeared as a dystopian event, and it seemed to many that tourism had no future. But from the shadows of dystopia emerges hope for a better world and the move towards a utopian future (Isaac, 2015; More, 1561; Panayiotopoulos and Pisano, 2019; Shklar, 1965). So, what would tourism in New Zealand look like in a better world? This was the call to recalibrate, regenerate, remake and rethink tourism as an urgent matter (Cheer, 2020). The Minister of the Tourism at the time, Hon. Kelvin Davies MP, convened a Tourism Futures Taskforce (MBIE, 2021, p. 1) with this in mind:

To advise on what changes New Zealand can make to the tourism system, so that tourism enriches both New Zealand and the wellbeing of New Zealanders.

The Taskforce will use a design-thinking approach to draft recommendations, which will be aligned with the four capitals – economic, environmental, social and cultural – set out in the Treasury's Living Standards Framework.

A number of papers in this special issue reflect upon the re-imagination of tourism from a regenerative perspective (Becken and Kaur, 2021; Bellato et al., 2022; Cave and Dredge, 2020; Pollock, 2019). Major and Clarke (2021) envision a regenerative visitor economy. This approach to regenerative tourism is a shift that allows us to see tourism as a living ecosystem and requires innovative economic models, such as social entrepreneurship, systems level changes to the way tourism operates and is governed, local tourism solutions with community thriving as the primary aim and much more collaboration both within tourism and across sectors. Sheldon (2021) re-examines the economic models and assumptions that have given rise to current day tourism, suggesting alternate models based on new values. Sheldon proposes re-designing destinations, moving away from an economic system to a focus on capital values, such as social and trust, resulting in a system that is collaborative or circular in nature. Another alternative to the present focus on tourism as an economic system is promoted by Higgins-Desbiolles et al. (2021) through identifying the possibilities of and barriers to socialising tourism after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Responding to the future

What should tourism business do as a consequence of COVID-19 as a catalyst of change? On the one hand, do New Zealand tourism business create and action a regenerative future? Whereas, on the other hand, it is just a matter of trying to survive? In this section, we look at business change and transformation in order to create a resilient future (Hartman, 2018; Noorashid and Chin, 2021; Postma and Yeoman, 2021). At the heart of Fountain's (2021) paper is the relationship between economy and identity with food and representing both concepts; thus, the following question is propositioned “what role will – or could – food and drink play in a more resilient tourism future for the country?” Fountain observes that COVID-19 has accelerated a number of trends, which are likely to influence the resetting of tourism on a more resilient and regenerative pathway. Three potential trends are identified, namely Getting back to basics, Valuing local and locals and Food for well-being. Meikle (2021) follows a similar trajectory, drawing upon her experience as the CEO of Wellington Culinary Events Trust and Festival Director of Visa Wellington on a Plate. Meikle proposes three elements for a regenerative food tourism future: Community, Connection and New Zealand's story. These elements are not without challenge as New Zealand is not a traditional food tourism destination (Fusté-Forné and Jamal, 2020; Yeoman et al., 2020), yet it is about having the confidence and understanding to take New Zealand to the world.

Expanding further on from Yeoman et al. (2022b) paper about tourism trends, the authors also address the importance of family and domestic tourism (Yeoman et al., 2022a). They identify four trends that are of importance Simplicity: In search of slow; Mercurial consumption; Localism; Staycation; Healthy habits; Is it safe to come out? One of the biggest sectors of tourism to be impacted by COVID-19 was the airline industry, as this is an industry that depends on volume due to high fixed costs (Garrow and Lurkin, 2021). So, how do airlines go about forecasting demand in turbulent environment? Vinod (2021) suggests a new adaptive robust revenue management approach that monitors key metrics, detects anomalies and quickly takes corrective action when performance targets cannot be achieved. Bottrill (2022) looks at the future of work through the lens of education as providers have been slow to address the impact of robotics and artificial intelligence on labour markets through the Fourth Revolution (Kravchenko and Kyzymenko, 2019).

Conclusion

The papers in this special issue on the re-imagination of New Zealand tourism have been collected, adapted and written across a time span of two years. At the time of finalising this editorial, New Zealand's borders to international visitors have just recently re-opened, and the local tourism industry's outlook is cautiously optimistic. The country is seeing first indicators of positive demand that surpass initially cautious expectations towards a recovery of international tourism, and the main problem businesses faced in the first half of 2022 is the need to quickly rebuild a significant workforce within vastly different circumstances. The question now, of course, is as follows: what future is New Zealand tourism entering, and what changes will we see in the wider global tourism industry as a result of COVID-19? Futures were imagined, industry initiatives brought to life, changes proposed and visions shared, all with the aim to ensure that tourism will build back better, learn from its mistakes and become a more consistent force for good – or at least slightly improved. As we return to international travel, reconnect with friends, family and colleagues and make up for lost time, we must be mindful of our impact and work collectively as well as individually towards creating more positive impact. Similarly, as we experience a resurgence in tourist demand and a desperately needed increase in revenue, we must be mindful of the long-term risks associated with our previous practice and not forget our aspirations and hopes as we find relief in this highly anticipated “return to normal”.

Noho ora mai, ngā mihi mō ngā tau kei mua i te aroaro.

Note

1. https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/som/about/events/recorded-webinars