Tourism and hospitality minister Louise Upston is celebrating the results of a recent marketing push in Australia, but the local tourism boss says the visitor increase can’t be credited to one campaign alone.

Tourism New Zealand’s ‘Everyone Must Go’ campaign, launched earlier this year, aimed to deliver an additional 6,750 Australian visitors in autumn, and the minister said it ended up attracting 7,981.

“‘Everyone Must Go’ has been a winner,” the minister said this week. 

“Tourism New Zealand stats released to me show it delivering an additional 7,981 visitors to smash its initial forecasts.”

The campaign was the first under the government’s Tourism Boost initiative, with a spend of $800,000, and it showed how industry and government could work together to grow the economy and support local businesses, according to the minister.

But Lake Wānaka Tourism and Destination Queenstown CEO Mat Woods said increases in visitor numbers coming from Australia reflect decades of work.

“We’ve built strong demand for Queenstown and Wānaka in the Australian market over the past 40 years and Australians continue to be our most important international visitor market,” he said.

Lake Wānaka Tourism and Destination Queenstown CEO Mat Woods said the RTO had put many, many years of effort into attracting Australian visitors. PHOTO: Lake Wānaka Tourism

He also noted that the regional tourism organisation had a campaign positioning Queenstown Lakes region as a leading autumn and winter destination at the same time as the Tourism New Zealand one.

“What we do know is Queenstown Airport experienced almost 60,000 Australian arrivals through March, April, and May, which is an increase of 14 percent on the same period last year, outpacing the New Zealand average of seven percent.”

Queenstown Airport is the number one arrival port in New Zealand for Australian holiday arrivals, and almost half of all Australian holidaymakers visit the Queenstown Lakes district during their stay, he said.

This demonstrates “the importance of Destination Queenstown and Lake Wānaka Tourism’s continued investment in this market.”

Mat also pointed to broader collaboration underway with many other regional tourism organisations.

“We continue to partner with eight regional tourism organisations as 'Southern Way' to promote the lower south as a touring destination, driving longer stays and dispersal,” he said.

Currently, the campaign includes an itinerary flying into Dunedin on Jetstar’s new Gold Coast service, touring through Queenstown and Wānaka, and flying home from Queenstown Airport.