News

Filming of The Hobbit will go ahead in New Zealand after high-profile negotiations between Prime Minister and Tourism Minister John Key and executives from US studio Warner Bros.

Okay, so you have worked really hard to get more visitors to your website and more enquires/bookings or sales.

The other week I was lucky enough to be in Sydney on a glorious balmy winter's day and happened across the colourful FIFA Fan Fest site at Darling Harbour.

Sitting in the lounge at Auckland Airport, as I wait for my Qantas flight back to Canada, I have some time to reflect on the past few days at TRENZ.

In a few weeks (27 April) we pass a significant milestone - there will be just 500 days to go before the whistle is blown to mark the start of the biggest sporting event of 2011: the seventh Rugby World Cup.

Fifteen years ago when I told people I worked for Tourism Wellington they would look shocked and ask: "Is there tourism in Wellington?"

The answer to the question 'why should you use social media to tap into the backpacker market' is pretty obvious - because they expect it!

New Zealand's tourism brand 100% Pure New Zealand celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2009. Ten years is a long time in marketing, so does that mean it's time for a change? Here are my thoughts on why 100% Pure New Zealand is just as relevant, if not more so, than it was 10 years ago.

Like every other sector, New Zealand's cruise industry has been affected by the global economic recession, with cruise lines based in the US, UK and Japan deploying their ships closer to home this summer.

A year ago some may have dismissed social media - including sites and services like Bebo, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter - as just another fad. But social media is here to stay, and it has dramatic consequences for the way we communicate.