Differences between tourists on East Cape / Te Urewera and Banks Peninsula
Introduction
Tourists surveyed in two different regions of New Zealand showed differences in age, transport, accommodation and information use. This is consistent with other studies.
There were also significant differences between the two regions in the way visitors rated the attractiveness of different kinds of activities and attractions.
In summer 2004/05, we surveyed international and domestic tourists about their interest in ecocultural tourism products on Banks Peninsula (East Coast South Island – southern case study) and in East Cape / Te Urewera (East Coast North Island – northern case study) (see map below).
Map showing southern and northern case study areas
Age distributions
Visitors to Banks Peninsula tended to be older than visitors to East Cape. A much higher percentage of the tourists surveyed in the northern case study were less than 30 years old than in the southern area and there were a higher percentage over 50 in the southern area (see table below).
Ages of visitors to East Cape and Banks Peninsula in summer 2004/05
Northern sample |
Southern sample |
|||
Age group |
International (% of 182) |
Domestic (% of 104) |
International (% of 142) |
Domestic (% of 58) |
Under 30 |
51 |
38 |
26 |
14 |
30–49 |
37 |
52 |
37 |
46 |
50+ |
12 |
11 |
37 |
40 |
Transport
All respondents were asked to identify their main mode of transport for this holiday.
Domestic travellers in the north and south were similar in that most used private cars.
International visitors differed significantly between regions in their use of private cars and rental cars:
- Private cars were used by 37% of those in the south but by only 17% of those in the north
- Rental cars were used by 26% of those in the south but by 55% of those in the north
- Use of other transport forms differed little between the two regions.
It is difficult to say what causes this pattern of use. People in the south may be travelling in private cars owned by friends and family, but only a very small percentage of those surveyed in the south actually reported staying with friends and family.
Accommodation
There were significant differences in the accommodation being used by visitors (both international and domestic) in the two regions:
- In the south a high proportion were staying in relatively expensive accommodation, such as hotels, B&Bs and motels
- In the north, most were staying in cheaper accommodation such as backpackers or motor camps
- Of interest also is the relatively high numbers in the north staying in private homes.
Photo: Te Urewera Rainforest Route
Length of stay in the region
Many more people in the south were day trippers while it was common for people in the north to stay in the area for a few days. There are several reasons for this:
- Banks Peninsula is a popular place for day trippers and the small town of Akaroa is a popular day-trip destination from Christchurch. East Cape is more remote and therefore much less likely to be a day-trip destination
- Banks Peninsula requires a trip there and back from Christchurch whereas East Cape and Te Urewera offer through routes between the popular tourist areas of Rotorua and Hawke’s Bay
- Most international visitors arrive into Auckland and fly out of Christchurch. Where this is true East Cape in the North Island will be visited early on in many tourists’ itineraries whereas Banks Peninsula is a popular add-on that many tourists use at the end of their trip to fill in a day while they wait to fly out of the country.
Information sources and decision making on where to visit
In the northern sample, tourists were most likely to use the Internet, guidebooks and travel agents. These are all information sources that would be most available to them at home – the place where most northern visitors said they made their decision to visit East Cape / Te Urewera.
In the southern sample, tourists reported mostly using information centres, guidebooks, brochures and recommendations from other travellers. These information sources are those that tourists use while they are travelling – the time when most visitors to the southern area made their decision to visit Banks Peninsula.
Conclusions
The data sets of the two case study areas describe two very different sets of tourists. The northern visitors tended to be younger and travelling on a lower budget than those in the southern sample.
The southern visitors reported a greater likelihood of staying in motels and B&B style accommodation, whereas backpacker/hostel accommodation was more likely to be favoured in the north. This probably reflects the accommodation available as much as it reflects differences in tourist type so it is difficult to draw out the link between supply and demand for accommodation.
Although rental car travel was a popular choice in both regions, compared with the southern respondents, a greater proportion of those in the north reported travelling in a rental car or on a backpacker bus.
Visitors to Banks Peninsula were more likely to be on a 1- or 2-day trip to the area, whereas northern visitors tended to be staying longer in the East Cape / Te Urewera region. Visitors to the two regions also reported using information sources differently.
These differences reflect what people working in the industry note about the people in their regions and reflect qualitative observation of the way these two regions are used by travellers. They are linked to the ways in which international visitors flow through the country, and to the geography of the areas concerned.
For more information a more in-depth report is available.
Reference as: Horn, Chrys 2006: Differences between tourists in two different regions of New Zealand.
Comments and feedback on this Growing Regional Māori Tourism site are welcomed and should be directed to Helen Fitt
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