Sydney air link exciting news

Minister for Tourism Robert Wigmore has announced the ongoing commitment in 2010-2011 to the direct Air New Zealand Los Angeles-Rarotonga-Los Angeles flight and an exciting new initiative which Cabinet approved last Saturday.
The idea of a direct Sydney-Rarotonga-Sydney flight has been on CI Tourism’s agenda for quite some time and it is now going to happen in July 2010. Cabinet has approved a financial guarantee to be put in place to enable an Air New Zealand B767 direct flight to operate for a “trial” period of four months between July and October 2010 along with an additional advertising and marketing budget to ensure the direct flight is a success. The Minister is confident this direct Sydney flight will definitely generate visitor growth from the Australian market which will ensure an ongoing direct flight is commercially viable and can be extended over time. It will also open up the possibility of Cook Island agricultural products including fresh fish to be freighted to the huge Australian consumer market on a weekly basis with potential growth opportunities for our local farmers.
Cook Islands Tourism CEO John Dean has praised Government for supporting Tourism’s proposal to grow the economy through increased visitor arrivals, particularly from a market the size of Australia. Dean said that from his arrival here as CEO of Tourism in April 2008 it has been his personal commitment to make this direct flight a reality and it will establish Australia as a core short haul market over the years ahead.
“It is exciting and wonderful news for the Cook Islands, as Australians visitors have good length of stay, spend is high and approximately 80% visit one of the outer islands mainly Aitutaki.
CI Tourism in conjunction with the industry and the major wholesalers in Australia and Air New Zealand are now in the process of planning the advertising and marketing campaign which will commence early in the New Year. Dean said this to put the thought of a Cook Islands holiday on their radar very early in the holiday destination decision making process.

Herald Issue 463 10 June
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