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Younger Kiwis spurn the UK

YOUNG New Zealanders, long-famous for their urge to fly overseas and experience the real world are now staying at home.

Even the UK, which for many years, topped the list of foreign destinations, is now failing to attract the Kiwis.

In other research, two-thirds of those polled by BRC Research for the Sunday Star-Times said they believed they could not get a better quality of life by moving overseas.

Of those who said their quality of life would improve by moving, 23 per cent nominated Australia. Only 3 per cent thought the United Kingdom would give them a better quality of life. More than 500 people were questioned in the poll.

Other research has found a rising "feel good' factor about New Zealand, with more people saying New Zealand was the best country to live in out of a choice of five English-speaking countries. In polling by UMR Research in 2003, 77 per cent said this was the best country to live in, up from 57 per cent in 1999.

The finding is echoed in other research showing New Zealanders are on a high about their country, giving it top marks as a place to live and work.

According to market researchers TNS, the aspirations of 13 to 24-year olds have shifted significantly in the past four years.

"Some of the allure of travel has been diminished through war and terrorist attacks, but also what's happening in New Zealand seems to be more satisfying," said TNS New Zealand managing director Murray Campbell.

"The sense of having to go halfway around the world to find out who you are... perhaps that whole sense of self-discovery is happening locally."

Among young men aged 18 to 24, those who had aspirations to travel or to live overseas fell from almost half in 1999 to less than a third in 2003. For young women in the same age group, those who wanted to travel or live overseas fell from 41 per cent to just over a third in the same period.

And for those between 13 and 17 there was also a significant weakening in interest in travelling, down about 15 per cent. The numbers questioned ranged from 380 to 730 in each group.

Campbell said a growing sense of a strong New Zealand culture could be one reason for the shift. International recognition for movie director Peter Jackson's work was one source of positive confirmation.

The results might be interpreted by some as a step back by Kiwi young people from being "global citizens" but it could also mean that the internet and other forms of communication made them feel less cut off from global culture while in New Zealand.

Wellingtonian Emma Gilkison, 26, said she had opted for short holidays in Europe and a period as an exchange student when she was 16, rather than a prolonged working OE of the kind of her parents' generation.

Gilkison said she had no sense that she might be missing out by staying in Wellington.

"I just love what's going on here at the moment. Although I listen to music from other countries, my favourite bands are all Wellington bands. It's the same with fashion design. I always try to buy local designers."