With the borders reopening and the industry hoping for a flurry of tourists, many operators will be wondering how New Zealand will fare in the new global tourism landscape.
This year’s Backpacker Youth and Adventure Tourism Association conference will tackle how New Zealand can survive – and thrive – in the new climate, centres around reconnecting, and will be a great way to catch up with fellow operators and industry partners.
Held at Rydges Auckland on Thursday, August 25, and Friday, August 26, this year’s BYATA conference is hosted by Tataki Auckland Unlimited, sponsored by Tomahawk, Hostelworld, and Backpacker Deals, and will focus on reconnection.
The theme of this years’ conference is ‘Reconnecting to the World – Embracing high value youth within the rebuild of tourism’, and BYATA chair Chris Speering says their strategy is similar to the US Cola Wars of the 1980s.
“BYATA is in a unique position to anchor the lifetime value model project to Tourism NZs 100% Pure messaging in order to promote Aotearoa as a ‘meaningful travel destination’ for discerning, high value travel markets.
“We’re keen to simulate a marketing approach that has been tried and tested for years; namely the US Cola Wars, where Pepsi took on Coke to use adventurous youth as a way to differentiate their brand, for example: ‘Pepsi – the Choice of a New Generation’.
“This gives us a positive platform to speak from, generating innovative ideas around being a challenger brand, targeting youth who are resilient travellers and loyal to NZ.
“We’re looking for the opportunity to empower the youth traveller, develop their lifetime love and loyalty to our brand in order to help us attract a different market segment. One that wants a premium experience, those who travel and aspire with Gen Z values,” says Chris.
“We therefore pose a question: How does New Zealand survive and thrive in what will be a fiercely competitive market. How do we attract meaningful travellers to Aotearoa – the choice of a new generation?”
BYATA has a number of themes they’re working with to help make Aotearoa New Zealand the most meaningful travel destination in the world, capturing the world's most meaningful travellers.
“We’re working with Government and industry partners to showcase New Zealand as a world class, meaningful travel destination that offers authentic, real and life changing experiences, support local communities in a sustainable way that meets our challenger aspirations,” says Chris.
“We’re wanting to make NZ the Working Holiday Visa of choice – so to fulfil our skill shortage, we want to involve the community as a solution to responsible travel with a focus on support of locally owned businesses, and embrace the rise of digital nomads through our country so that people who plan to travel combine work with travel in the future.
“We’re also working to maintain and increase the number of accommodation providers, as the need for social connection and finding like-minded travellers is strong, and we know consumers are hungry for new experiences and connections, so how can we show that by digitally disconnecting you will meet new friends, experience something cultural and improve their physical and mental wellbeing.”
With the theme of reconnecting as their focus, BYATA have decided to heavily reduce the Delegate Passes, “so everyone in our industry can enjoy the Conference this year,” says Chris.
“We understand how difficult the past three years have been and we’d like to bring people back together in a central location and kick off our reconnection to the world.”
This year, the ticket prices are:
Early bird two day pass $299 + GST (normally $499)
Early bird additional delegate two day pass $249 + GST (normally $449)
Early bird one day pass $199 + GST (normally $299)
For more information, click here.
To register for the conference, email: [email protected]
