'Be Nice to Aussies' Month

[MotherBear]

Through gritted teeth - It's Be-Nice-to-Australians Month
5:00AM Monday March 05, 2007
By Jarrod Booker

Poking fun at Australians has been something of a national sport for decades, but now New Zealand's tourism bosses want less teasing and more visitors.

The plea, which may astonish patriotic Kiwis, is a serious one and comes as New Zealand tourism agencies take the bold step of adopting Australia's national colours as a marketing tactic.

"While one comment is pretty innocuous, if every second Kiwi makes a comment [to Australian visitors] about the cricket or about the rugby, it will start to grate on them," said Christchurch and Canterbury Marketing chief executive Ian Bougen.

"If we want to keep those Aussie dollars rolling in ... maybe we need to learn to be a little bit more hospitable."

More here .