Tourism New Zealand's new early-bird ski campaign, targeting
Australian skiers and snowboarders, kicks off this Sunday (7
February).
Television commercials will run in Sydney and Brisbane for the
next two weeks, encouraging keen skiers to get in quick and make
bookings.
Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive Kevin Bowler says the early
campaign aims to repeat last year's success.
"Last year was the first year Tourism New Zealand and the industry
went into market with an early ski campaign and we had a strong ski
season, with the industry here reporting an influx of Australians
on the slopes," says Kevin Bowler.
Australia is the largest single international market for skiers
and snow boarders to New Zealand. Last year approximately 70,000
Australians hit the slopes.
Australian holiday arrivals over the winter season of June, July
and August for 2009 were up 28 per cent on the same three months of
2008 - it was the first year New Zealand had gone into Australia
with ski ads as early as February.
Tourism New Zealand's ski television commercial is being
supported by the Ski Tourism Marketing Network (Ski TMN) which is
undertaking advertising and promotion work in the weeks following
the airing of the TV commercial.
SkiTMN spokesperson Trish May says the relationship between
SkiTMN and Tourism New Zealand has never been closer or more
effective.
"We're anticipating some strong competitor activity this year,
and as Australian economic confidence grows there could be a
tendency for Australians to consider long-haul ski holidays. So, it
is important that the industry keeps a clear focus on winter ski
holidays to New Zealand for 2010," says Trish May.
The early-bird ski campaign is part of the Joint Venture funding
collaboration between Tourism New Zealand, the Regional Tourism
Organisations (RTOs) and the SkiTMN.
The Joint Venture Fund will see NZD5 million of Government funds
matched by RTOs and commercial operators to provide a NZD10 million
marketing fund in Australia.
The Tourism New Zealand ski commercials will drive viewers to
the Australian gateway page of its consumer site - www.newzealand.com - which will house
promotions for early bird ski travel deals.
"The addition of Joint Venture funding has allowed SkiTMN to
extend the reach of its campaign beyond the traditional targets of
New South Wales and Queensland, to now include Victoria.
Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism are also running JV winter
activity to leverage both Tourism New Zealand and the Ski TMN's
campaign," says Kevin Bowler.
Read
more about our campaign work in Australia
Read more about
Australia in the online market guide