Mine Bay Māori Rock Carvings at Lake Taupō. Photo: Supplied
North Island tourism leaders are flexing their new strategic alliance to make waves overseas.
Kiwi North is the new promotion body formed by 15 regional tourism organsiations that, this year, decided to stop competing and start co-operating.
The group formalised their alliance by signing a memorandum of understanding at an industry conference in May.
Auckland Airport chief customer officer Scott Tasker said the alliance had hit the ground running, hosting two trade events in Sydney and Melbourne over the past month, and would start hunting bigger fish in the coming year.
"In March, Kiwi North will be heading to China and then planning is underway for a further roadshow in the US later in 2026," Tasker said.
The alliance included key tourism bodies like Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, RotoruaNZ and WellingtonNZ, which had all previously handled their own individual overseas promotions.
Tasker said this approach had confused visitors, who planned to visit different regions over the course of one holiday.
"The North Island is a fantastic destination from the north to the south of the island," he said. "There's so much that visitors can do, whether it's cities, culture, arts, scenery, golf, ecotourism, wine, adventure... there's a whole lot to do and it's all quite close.
"The way we were turning up as North Island tourism promotion bodies in the offshore markets was not in a collaborative way, so you saw that perhaps Auckland and Rotorua and Wellington were going to Australia, and doing their own travel trade roadshows."
RotoruaNZ chief executive Andrew Wilson agreed.
"When an international visitor makes a choice to come to New Zealand, they're not necessarily selecting Rotorua versus Taupo versus Northland versus the Manawatū," he said.
"They're looking and thinking about that entire visit, so working together to try and broaden that message, and broaden that reach makes a lot of sense."
By working together, Tasker said the North Island stood a better chance at competing with the South Island's tourism offerings.
"The South Island destination proposition is probably better understood in some of our key offshore markets, but the North Island destination proposition is less well understood," he said.
"The way for us to try and drive more visitation, given that issue, is to work together."
