You dare to say what people should or should not do on their holidays. As
for "shallow experiences". Not everyone desires to know a country in
"depth" . And it's fairly obvious why people like to see both countries
just as it's common knowledge that travellers do NOT always visit both.

If you mention the name Australia to a Euro or American person, they can
probably mention 10 images it evokes. The Opera house, Ayers Rock etc.
Even if they are just stereotypical images of Australia, at least it's
something.

Until Lord of the Rings, the average person in EU or America would not
have a single image of New Zealand. Not one. ZERO.

The desire to visit NZ is not strong within the hearts of most visitors
to this region. But Australia is Australia - it's very name evokes imagery.