Remember the Are You Being Served? episode where Mr Grainger tries to sell a German tourist a German coat during Grace Bros.’ German Week? The tourist, who is accompanied by Joanna Lumley prior to The New Avengers, is infuriated that he has come to the UK only to be persuaded to buy something that he can get back at home. Gents’ ready-made does not make the sale.
   The Weekend Herald, the Irish-owned Auckland newspaper, has a story on how Red Chinese tourists venturing to New Zealand are disappointed at their experience. New Zealand destination marketing harps on about the Māori culture, fish and chips, and fresh fish. Tour operators kept taking the tourists to Chinese joints to eat, denying them an authentic experience. The main interviewee in the story had never sampled fish and chips, and never got to chat to an ordinary Kiwi. Even the souvenirs, he says, are made in China, something that can be contrasted to his Australian travel experience.
   He was willing, he said, to pay more for souvenirs that had ‘Made in Australia’ on them, which highlights the country-of-origin problem that manufacturers face. It’s one industry where cost-cutting by relocating to cheaper production sites does not help sales. (For more on this, I note the second edition of National Image and Competitive Advantage, by Eugene Jaffe and Israel Nebenzahl, is out.)
   And the locals love the contact, so why not? At the wedding I attended, an Alice Springs resident bemoaned how Japanese tourists did not venture into town: they flew in and then flew out. It might be due to the tour operators and not the tourists themselves. But it seems that cross-cultural experiences are key to the tourism industry, and they appear to be denied.
   For all the claims about how successful New Zealand’s nation branding is, I have my doubts—and now have more to back me up. Posted by Jack Yan, 13:26  permalink

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