The agreement – signed by ATEED Chief Executive Brett O’Riley during the Mayoral Brisbane Sister City Business Exchange – will build on the success of a year-long pilot programme between ATEED and Flight Centre Australia.

 

Auckland Mayor Len Brown describes the joint venture as an excellent example of how the visitor economy is growing in line with the targets ATEED is working towards in its 10-year Auckland Visitor Plan. 

 

“Increasing the value of the visitor economy will deliver long term benefits for Auckland – it will help to make our city a better place to live as well as a better place to visit,’’ he says

 

Brett O’Riley says the existing programme has been a huge success and helped to pave the way for this partnership with Flight Centre Australia.

 

“Our aim is to significantly increase the number of Australian visitors to Auckland, as it’s our largest tourism market. This year’s project is nearly complete and we’re confident we’ll surpass our target of generating 20,000 extra arrivals into Auckland through Flight Centre’s channels and stimulating more than NZ$17 million of foreign exchange for the Auckland visitor economy,” he says.

 

The programme involves promoting Auckland to Australians in a new way that highlights the diversity of what’s on offer and presents the city as a destination in its own right.

 

“We worked with Flight Centre to create a range of holiday packages involving experiences from across the Auckland region that appeal to different groups of visitors – and people have responded well to that,” says Mr O’Riley.

 

The new partnership agreement is worth NZ$1 million and will lift the exposure for Auckland to another level. As part of the commitment, Flight Centre Australia will hold a conference for its state marketing managers on Auckland’s Waiheke Island later this year.

 

Flight Centre Executive Global Marketing Manager Colin Bowman says working with ATEED to market Auckland is a mutually beneficial partnership.

 

“It’s great to be working together to grow visitation. Through the campaign we’ve really opened the eyes of Australian visitors to the huge variety of experiences on offer in Auckland – many of which Aussie travellers didn’t know about,” he says.

 

Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) welcomed the new agreement, saying it will further support the company's own global MOU with Flight Centre.

 

Justin Watson, General Manager Marketing Communications says: "We have seen fantastic results from our own activity in Australia with Flight Centre over the past year, so this new agreement will be of significant benefit to the Auckland region and New Zealand as a whole.”

 

ATEED – on behalf of Auckland Council – aims to double the contribution from the visitor economy over the next 10 years, growing it from NZ$3.33 billion in 2010 to NZ$6 billion in 2021.

 

Flight Centre Australia is Australasia’s largest travel company with over 700 stores and more than 3000 travel agents.