WEST COAST TOURISM INDUSTRY UPDATE
Kia ora
make sure you’re part of our private Facebook group to stay in the loop and connect with other West Coast tourism operators.
Media
Digital Marketing Opportunities for Your Business
Get your business featured in our marketing campaigns, website and social media content.
Learn more
Familiarisation Trips
Past famils:
Upcoming Famils:
News
Manaakitanga ki te Tai Poutini Hui | West Coast Tourism Summit 2025
More than 200 tourism operators, industry leaders, and community members gathered at Shantytown on Wednesday for the fourth annual Manaakitanga ki te Tai Poutini Hui | West Coast Tourism Summit.
This year’s theme, “Gearing for Growth”, focused on preparing the region’s visitor economy for the future, from implementing seasonal strategies and adapting to changing traveller expectations, to leveraging digital tools while continuing to nurture people, culture, and the environment.
The summit featured keynote presentations from Tourism New Zealand, Christchurch International Airport, and RealNZ, alongside a series of panel discussions and breakout sessions. Attendees also heard from Great South’s Bobbi Brown on the role of destination management, Tourism New Zealand’s Angela Blair on international market trends, and Christchurch Airport’s Scott Callaway on the airport’s 2030 vision and its support for West Coast growth.
Scenic Hotel Group CEO Karl Luxon launched the new Real West tourism training programme, designed to build both leadership and frontline capability by aligning the region’s tourism workforce with the Te Tai o Poutini Destination Management Plan and strengthening service, storytelling, and regional pride.
Regional Tourism Boost Fund Campaigns
The two regional tourism boost fund campaigns have now been in market for a few months and have seen some fantastic results.
The Central South Island campaign, Winter Different, originally ending 30 June, has been extended due to strong performance. Highlights include:
- 25.9M impressions
- 70.6K landing page views
- Webjet passenger numbers into Christchurch rose 135% YoY in June 2025 (from 723 to 1,701)
Click below to read the full update.
Trade
West Coast Image Library
To assist you with your brochures and other materials, we are pleased to provide you with some free assets that you may use to promote the West Coast.
Learn more
We are here to help, so please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or need support becoming trade ready.
Please take a moment to update us with what’s happening on your end too. We need to know, experience, and understand your business and product offering so we can help connect your products with the world. Pictures, information, factsheets, and product updates are all very useful and can be included in our Trade E-Newsletter which gets distributed to agents world-wide.
Events
Keep in Touch
Our Tourism team:
