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Rob Eliott: Auckland Travel Show founder on Kiwi demand for travel holding firm · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks'd be follow
• 0:12
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  Speaker 2: In the current world and economic climate, you might think
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  Speaker 2: that travel would be off the table for Kiwi's. However,
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  Speaker 2: it appears that's not the case with demand for travel
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  Speaker 2: holding firm. There does appear to be a shift though
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  Speaker 2: in how we're traveling, and it's something being seen at
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  Speaker 2: this weekend's Auckland Travel Show. Founder Rob Elliott is here
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  Speaker 2: to talk me through a.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Rob, Good morning Francesca.
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  Speaker 2: Has there been big interest in the show this weekend?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah? Absolutely. We had a really great day yesterday, a
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  Speaker 3: couple of thousand people through the doors, which is always
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  Speaker 3: a good sign, and opening the doors at ten am
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  Speaker 3: today at ten till four brilliant.
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  Speaker 2: Has travel slowed at all given increased cost pressures and
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  Speaker 2: of course a bit of global uncertainty?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think travel's changed over the last few months, certainly,
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  Speaker 3: But what are we comparing it to? Which normal?
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  Speaker 1: Was it?
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  Speaker 3: The pre COVID normal of twenty and nineteen, all the
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  Speaker 3: normal come of months ago? So I think we're sort
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  Speaker 3: of all getting used to constant change, aren't we.
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  Speaker 2: So how has travel shifted. Where are people heading?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, I think obviously with all the turbulence going
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  Speaker 3: on in the Middle East at the moment over March April,
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  Speaker 3: it seems that bookings for some parts of the world
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  Speaker 3: have slowed a little. But what I'm hearing from everyone
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  Speaker 3: down here at the Auckland Travel Show is that people
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  Speaker 3: have just basically redirected, you know, where their plans are
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  Speaker 3: going to take them. And so certainly lots of people
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  Speaker 3: who have tours and special itineries through parts of Asia
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  Speaker 3: are doing really well at the Auckland Travel Show at
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  Speaker 3: the moment. We've got quite a lot of the Pacific
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  Speaker 3: Islands in the room. Obviously these are destinations that really
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  Speaker 3: aren't too affected by what's going on elsewhere in the world.
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  Speaker 3: But then I mean we've got about eight different crews
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  Speaker 3: companies down here at the show as well, and there
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  Speaker 3: are boarding you know, people still strong interests in Europe.
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  Speaker 3: River cruises through you know, through France, things like that
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  Speaker 3: still are still very much what people are coming to
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  Speaker 3: them for.
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  Speaker 2: Are there countries people are less likely to travel given
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  Speaker 2: the global situation.
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  Speaker 3: Middle East hasn't been hot on people's to do list
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  Speaker 3: that I've noticed. Yeah, so so I think, you know,
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  Speaker 3: that's the that's pretty much the big one. And I
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  Speaker 3: guess as well for sort of long haul travel. You know,
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  Speaker 3: if you're wanting to fly through to Europe, we are
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  Speaker 3: seeing people sort of be redirected through places like Malaysia.
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  Speaker 3: So so you might have traveled through Dubai, but now
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  Speaker 3: it's sort of you know, Malaysia Alliance or what have
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  Speaker 3: you instead, And so I mean they've I think people
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  Speaker 3: are sort of open to exploring some other, some other
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  Speaker 3: routing at the moment, and in particular, I mean we've
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  Speaker 3: got Malaysia Alliance here doing. You know, if you want
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  Speaker 3: to do that long haul trip to London, for example,
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  Speaker 3: you know halfway there you can choose one of eight
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  Speaker 3: kind of stop off destinations as a free as a
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  Speaker 3: free add on, And so you know, that's getting a
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  Speaker 3: lot of interest here, understandably because he wouldn't want to
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  Speaker 3: get Alan Kawi for a couple of days on the
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  Speaker 3: way back from the UK.
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  Speaker 2: Do you think the airlines have actually done a pretty
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  Speaker 2: good job of adapting to the challenges they face at
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  Speaker 2: the moment.
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  Speaker 3: I think again, they're having to be so nimble, aren't they. Y,
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  Speaker 3: you know, they're getting a curveball every other week. So yeah,
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  Speaker 3: I think that. I mean, the reality is you can
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  Speaker 3: still absolutely fly by via the Middle East, but everyone's
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  Speaker 3: got a different sort of risk tolerance, I guess, and
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  Speaker 3: everyone's got a different sort of anxiety around what might
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  Speaker 3: what they're prepared to do, and so yeah, I think
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  Speaker 3: they are having to be pretty nimble. And we've certainly
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  Speaker 3: seen that with a case of you know, our national
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  Speaker 3: airline here, but we've got you know, we've got Singapore
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  Speaker 3: Lines and Malaysia Airlines in the room and you know
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  Speaker 3: those are those are two airlines that really aren't being
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  Speaker 3: too poorly acted at by what's going on the board
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  Speaker 3: at the minute.
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  Speaker 2: Is it just the destinations that have changed a little bit,
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  Speaker 2: or has there been a shift in the way people
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  Speaker 2: travel or what they're wanting to get out of their travel?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, I mean from somebody you certainly I used
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  Speaker 3: to travel quite a lot when I was younger, you know,
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  Speaker 3: three kids and that sort of thing.
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  Speaker 2: Those days, those.
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  Speaker 3: Days were you know, fancy free you could sort of
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  Speaker 3: just jet across to you know, get across for a
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  Speaker 3: week in somewhere. I think I did a similar thing
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  Speaker 3: in the UK. But the reality is nowadays with everything
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  Speaker 3: that is going on in the world, and hey, the
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  Speaker 3: costant travel probably has got a bit more well, it
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  Speaker 3: has got more expensive than what it was six years ago.
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  Speaker 3: So people are tending to take probably fewer trips generally,
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  Speaker 3: but then do more when they're there. And so what
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  Speaker 3: we're hearing from the specialists we've got down here at
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  Speaker 3: the travel show is that people are really looking for
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  Speaker 3: an Indiana itinerary. They don't want to they don't want
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  Speaker 3: to jump on a bus, a hop on, hop off bus,
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  Speaker 3: take a photo of the monument, get back and go
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  Speaker 3: to the next site. I think those days are somewhat
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  Speaker 3: over for the moment. You know, people are really wanting
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  Speaker 3: to get off the beaten track, get to really understand
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  Speaker 3: the place. And so people are, you know, the rise
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  Speaker 3: and rise of the small group cores. They're really kind
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  Speaker 3: of curated itineries. You know, cruises, you want to go
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  Speaker 3: on a cruise. It's no longer just the big ocean liner. Yes,
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  Speaker 3: we've got that. We've also got the little river cruises
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  Speaker 3: through the Nile, you know, might only had two hundred
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  Speaker 3: people on the boat. You know, so you've got all
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  Speaker 3: these really interesting kind of offerings now so there's really
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  Speaker 3: been an explosion in the last you know, a couple
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  Speaker 3: of decades of of what you can do if you
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  Speaker 3: want to if you want to go out and explore
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  Speaker 3: the world. And so yeah, part of what we're doing
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  Speaker 3: at the can Travel shows offering some of the best
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  Speaker 3: of you know, the best in the business to be
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  Speaker 3: able to help people choose that trip and you know,
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  Speaker 3: create something that's really special.
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  Speaker 2: Why do you think you think? Sorry sorry Rob finish up.
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  Speaker 3: I was just going to say, yeah, back to the question,
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  Speaker 3: you know, has the way that we're traveling changed? And
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  Speaker 3: I think yeah, I mean think people over that COVID
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  Speaker 3: period that couldn't travel, you know, have really decided that
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  Speaker 3: they're wanting to make the trip. They're wanting to go
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  Speaker 3: do those bucket list experiences and they're not going to
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  Speaker 3: be put off by it. But when you finally are
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  Speaker 3: able to get out and do it, you want to
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  Speaker 3: make sure you get it right. You want to you
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  Speaker 3: want to do it properly. And so yeah, so it's
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  Speaker 3: not just a book and a check flood online anymore.
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  Speaker 2: Which probably in pat does answer my next question, which
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  Speaker 2: was going to be why do you think travel is
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  Speaker 2: so important to kiwis because you think, given the world
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  Speaker 2: at the moment, that travel might be the one thing
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  Speaker 2: that people step back from.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I think, you know, I think people you know, there
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  Speaker 3: was so much complain about being being locked in over
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  Speaker 3: over that COVID period, and you know the reality is
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  Speaker 3: that didn't take a couple of months. It took years,
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  Speaker 3: you know some And so if you know you could
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  Speaker 3: be five years older if you put it off the
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  Speaker 3: trip now, like when are you putting it off till?
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  Speaker 3: You know, are you going to be able to travel
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  Speaker 3: better in three months or in six months, or in
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  Speaker 3: two years or in five years?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and so.
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  Speaker 3: The reality is you might find that right now is
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  Speaker 3: the best time to travel. So yeah, my thoughts and
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  Speaker 3: certainly the way that I'm approaching things is there's no
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  Speaker 3: better time to travel now. I'm not going to wait
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  Speaker 3: for another five years and waits on five years older
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  Speaker 3: to take that holiday. It's not going to happen. I'm
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  Speaker 3: going to take my family now.
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  Speaker 2: Rob, really nice to talk to you, Thank you so much.
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  Speaker 2: The Auckland Travel Show is on today at the New
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  Speaker 2: Zealand Convention Center. It is twelve to ten.
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