Tourism New Zealand has just launched a new online marketing
campaign in Japan, which aims to convert interest in New Zealand
into bookings as the market picks up.
The campaign will raise the profile of Tourism New Zealand's consumer travel website
and target groups of consumers most likely to be interested in a
New Zealand holiday.
Ten new themed features have been added to the Japanese-language
website highlighting ski/snowboard, world heritage, food and wine,
hiking, cycling, golf and luxury holiday experiences. These are
supported by around 70 special deals from operators and Japanese
trade partners.
Tourism New Zealand Regional Manager Japan Jason Hill says the 10
themes were chosen for their popularity among Japanese
consumers.
"Our research shows these types of holidays appeal to the Japanese
but are not well known in relation to New Zealand."
He says the campaign is using Search Engine Marketing (SEM) to
ensure New Zealand is visible when Japanese consumers search for
holiday ideas relating to these themes.
"Buying keywords in search engines such as Yahoo! and Google
ensures consumers find us when they search for "ski" or "NZ ski"
online. Through our paid search work Tourism New Zealand's website
will appear in the paid sponsors section at the top of the search
results page, attracting the interest of those planning their next
ski holiday," says Jason Hill.
"SEM allows a very targeted and cost effective approach to
delivering quality information of interest to our target audience
(Japanese consumers already considering New Zealand) leading them
down a path to purchase."
Running over the next year, the campaign will build on signs of a
recovery in Japanese visitor arrivals, after numbers last year were
negatively impacted by Influenza A (H1N1) Swine Flu and the
economic downturn. Japan's economy is growing more strongly than
expected and consumer sentiment is on the up.
Japanese arrivals are up 6 per cent for the calendar year to date
(five months to end of May 2010), with early feedback from agents
suggesting the 2010/11 summer should be better than last
year.
Joint promotional activity with industry partners (JTB, Hankyu and
Air New Zealand) will also run in leading Japanese newspaper Asahi
for three weeks from the end of June.
The campaign is set to reach around 18 million readers in the
Tokyo area, primarily within New Zealand's core target market of
50+ group travellers, and will promote travel over the spring
shoulder season.
"The Japanese love flowers and gardening so we are using this sort
of imagery to attract them in what's traditionally a quieter time
for travel to New Zealand," says Jason Hill.
He says the 50+ target audience are still high consumers of
newspaper media. A newspaper promotion in
Asahi in February successfully generated an additional
600 bookings through partners and with Air New Zealand during the
four week period, creating an additional incremental spend of
around NZD2.8 million.
Japan is New Zealand's fifth largest visitor market, with 80,687
arrivals in the year ending May 2010.
The campaign will raise the profile of
Tourism New Zealand's consumer travel website www.newzealand.com/travel/japan
and target groups of consumers most likely to be interested in a
New Zealand holiday.
Ten new themed features have been added
to the Japanese-language website highlighting ski/snowboard, world
heritage, food and wine, hiking, cycling, golf and luxury holiday
experiences. These are supported by around 70 special deals from
operators and Japanese trade partners.
Tourism New Zealand Regional Manager
Japan Jason Hill says the 10 themes were chosen for their
popularity among Japanese consumers.
"Our research shows these types of
holidays appeal to the Japanese but are not well known in relation
to New Zealand."
He says the campaign is using Search
Engine Marketing (SEM) to ensure New Zealand is visible when
Japanese consumers search for holiday ideas relating to these
themes.
"Buying keywords in search engines such
as Yahoo! and Google ensures consumers find us when they search for
"ski" or "NZ ski" online. Through our paid search work Tourism New
Zealand's website will appear in the paid sponsors section at the
top of the search results page, attracting the interest of those
planning their next ski holiday," says Jason Hill.
"SEM allows a very targeted and cost
effective approach to delivering quality information of interest to
our target audience (Japanese consumers already considering New
Zealand) leading them down a path to purchase."
Running over the next year, the campaign
will build on signs of a recovery in Japanese visitor arrivals,
after visitor numbers last year were negatively impacted by
Influenza A (H1N1) Swine Flu and the economic downturn. Japan's
economy is growing more strongly than expected and consumer
sentiment is on the up.
Japanese arrivals in May were up by 51.4
per cent on the previous year, and up 6 per cent for the calendar
year to date, with early feedback from agents suggesting the
2010/11 summer should be better than last year.
Joint promotional activity with industry
partners (JTB, Hankyu and Air New Zealand) will also run in leading
Japanese newspaper Asahi for three weeks from the end of
June.
The campaign is set to reach around 18
million readers in the Tokyo area, primarily within New Zealand's
core target market of 50+ group travellers, and will promote travel
over the spring shoulder season.
"The Japanese love flowers and gardening
so we are using this sort of imagery to attract them in what's
traditionally a quieter time for travel to New Zealand," says Jason
Hill.
He says the 50+ target audience are
still high consumers of newspaper media. A newspaper
promotion in Asahi in February [link to
story] successfully generated an additional 600 bookings through
partners and with Air New Zealand during the four week period,
creating an additional incremental spend of around NZD2.8
million.
Japan is New Zealand's
fifth largest visitor market, with 80,687 arrivals in the year
ending May 2010.
Read more about Japan in the online
market guide
Search Engine Marketing is becoming a
foundation of Tourism New Zealand market campaigns around the
world. Read more