The past few months have seen a significant increase in offshore
marketing activity from Tourism New Zealand as the organisation
works to increase visitor numbers over the busy summer high
season.
Tourism New Zealand's Chief Executive, Kevin Bowler says that
while the outcome of this work will become clear over time, Tourism
New Zealand has been busy looking ahead to 2012.
"Our offshore General Managers have recently run a series of
webinar sessions which have been really well received. The sessions
gave an large number of people from the industry the opportunity to
hear from offshore managers directly as we head into summer,
as well as activity planned for the shoulder season and winter. The
webinar format is one we see as highly cost and time effective for
the industry allowing them to participate from their offices and is
a format that we will look to utilise more in the future."
Heading into summer, Tourism New Zealand's Australia trade team
is developing a Kiwi Specialist training programme for Australia's
30,000 travel agents. Tourism New Zealand will also partner
with Regional Tourism Organisations and suppliers to ensure a
strong New Zealand presence at consumer travel shows next year in
Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth. This is a trial
activity to help industry test the value of attending consumer
shows in Australia.
"We are also starting to work with industry partners to promote
the 2012 ski season which offers great value for Australian
travellers. These campaigns will not only talk about the snow but
also the range of things available to do within close proximity to
the ski fields such as thermal hot springs, wine tasting or golf
and fishing," he says.
In China, the Yao Chen ambassador campaign activity continues to
build on its earlier success. While in Japan, the recently launched
100% Pure digital campaign uses a range of
interactive brochures and video footage to drive traffic to the newzealand.com site and through to travel
sellers and operators.
In the UK, USA, and Germany campaign work continues to personalise
the New Zealand experience to encourage active considerers to
commit to coming here for their next trip.
Kevin says, "Accounting for a significant portion of visitors
per annum, and nine of the top 15 markets for total days spent in
New Zealand, the western long haul markets remain a priority. While
the economy continues to be volatile in many of these markets we
will look to make best use of joint venture activity with
partners.
"Growth out of the USA is also looking positive and Canada, with
its more stable economy should help lead to a steady performance in
expansion of arrivals."
Careful targeting of the special interest sectors will continue in
2012 on the back of the recent youth campaign 'Stories beat stuff'
and successes in the Business Events space.
"There is no doubt that 2012 will be another busy year for the
industry and we are looking forward to maximising growth with our
industry partners," he said.
For more information about our off-shore markets see the market activity
guides or view the Australia, Western Markets and Asia Market webinar summaries.