Newsletter : June 2008

brought to you by New Zealand Tourism Online www.tourism.net.nz

NZTO Comment

by Garry Bond, General Manager, New Zealand Tourism Online

That's not a bad effort. The amount of dollars spent by domestic and international travellers surpassed $20 billion for the first time.

The Tourism Satellite Account: 2007, published today by Statistics New Zealand, shows tourism spend in New Zealand increased 4.7 percent ($896 million) in the year to March 2007 compared to the previous year.

The figures also show international tourism expenditure accounted for $8.8 billion, or 18.3 percent of New Zealand’s exports, compared with $8.4 billion the previous year, confirming tourism remains New Zealand’s number one export earner.

Mr O’Connor said the report demonstrates just how important tourism is to New Zealand’s economy, contributing 9.2 percent of GDP.

The sheer size of the tourism industry and its potential to help transform our economy into one which is more sustainable and of higher value means it is extremely important to New Zealand.

Tourism's future depends upon sustainability and delivering greater value from each and every visitor to this country. We need to continue to deliver on our world famous 100% Pure New Zealand brand and implement the outcomes of the New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2015 to ensure ongoing prosperity in the industry.

While escalating oil prices will provide a challenge for tourism and every other industry in this country, it is a challenge faced across the globe. Our ability to compete will depend on delivering a better product than our competitors, ensuring we are environmentally, economically, socially and culturally sustainable.

Operating sustainably is no longer optional. In today’s world it is essential for business success. Doing what we can to protect our environment will also reward us financially, ensuring the economic sustainability of the tourism industry and New Zealand as a whole".

Mr O’Connor

I certainly agree with the sustainability comments. Even New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) is training business trainers so they can pass sustainability concepts and ideas onto all small and medium business owners throughout New Zealand.

New Zealand is well placed to be a market leader in sustainability and this will provide yet another point of difference for the traveller deciding where to take their holidays. After all why not aim for $25 billion in the next few years.

For more about how you can make your business more sustainability friendly, download a sustainability guidebook and checklist here.

Domain Name Shakeup

An article from The Guardian

For more than a decade the internet has been a world of dotcoms, dotnets and dotcodotnzs. That could all change, however, with a new scheme to liberalise the way websites are named, creating a whole new generation of addresses such as .bank, .sport and .news.

The group which oversees the way the internet is organised yesterday announced its plans to open up the so-called "top-level domain" names to cope with a variety of new options, potentially creating a new internet goldrush as buyers bid to register the most popular names.

The decision, passed unanimously by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), was described by the organisation's president, Paul Twomey, as "the biggest change to the way people find each other on the internet since its inception".

"Apart from the .com, .net or .org, 1.3 billion web users will be able from early 2009 to acquire generic addresses by lodging common words such as .love, .hate or .city, or proper names," he said.

The plans have been incubating for some time, with Icann spending more than three years and $10m (£5m) putting the technology in place to support the change in the system.

At first it is likely these new suffixes will be limited to certain businesses and other major organisations such as city councils. Officials in Berlin are among those who have vociferously campaigned for the new rules, believing that selling .berlin web addresses would have a positive impact for tourism in the German capital.

But others are concerned that opening up the system could lead to more cybersquatting, where profiteers register brand names to make money off their popularity, or even make it easier for criminals to pose as banks or other legitimate organisations.

"If the domain name system is completely relaxed, cybersquatting will turn into a far greater problem, with companies struggling to protect their websites and intellectual property," said Thomas Herbert of Hostway, one of the world's largest web hosting companies.

"For example, Amazon would have to register many more domain names including Amazon.amazon, amazon.shopping, amazon.electronics. The list is practically endless, and the net result would be a more chaotic and disorganised web."

All applications will need to be approved by Icann itself, but buying the right to use one of these new names will not be cheap.

Some are expected to cost in the region of £250,000, leading some to question whether companies will have enough funds to protect themselves from impostors.

"It can be argued that the expansion of available suffixes is the equivalent of opening a can of worms in terms of online infringement," said Jonathan Robinson of domain management specialist NetNames. "With varying fee estimates, it could well turn out to be an untenable marketing expense for some."

There are other potential consequences which critics say are cause for concern. Not only could the new system deal a blow to the reputation of recent new domains such as .mobi and .eu, which will now have to compete with hundreds of others, but it could even damage the economies of some small countries which have become reliant on their internet-based business. The Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, for example, has made substantial profits from reselling its .tv domain name, which could be brought to an end if purchasers switch to a cheaper alternative.

The announcement could even resurrect plans to install a new .xxx domain for adult websites, a scheme which was scotched several years ago after protests by religious groups who feared that it would legitimise pornography.

What's in a name?

Just take a look at some of these domain names

Sex.com US$14m

The world's most valuable domain name was fraudently transferred from entrepreneur Gary Kremen's name in the 1990s, but eventually returned after a court battle a decade later. The reports are disputed, but it is believed Kremen earned between $11m and $14m when he sold up in 2006.

Business.com US$7.5m

After its sale in 1999, this retained the Guinness World Record for the most expensive domain name in history for seven years, largely thanks to the dotcom crash.

Diamonds.com US$7.5m

Owned by a jewellery retailer in Las Vegas, which now sells high-end valuables over the internet

Beer.com US$7m

Targeted the internet's natural audience by turning this domain name into a lads' magazine-style website

AsSeenOnTV.com US$5.1m

Shop.com US$3.5m

AltaVista.com US$3.3m

Loans.com US$3m

Wine.com US$2.9m

Web Marketing Options

New Zealand Tourism Online provides tourism operators with an extensive range of advertising solutions, from simple listings to engaging audio-visual presentations.

As we have a huge profile in search engines, and thousands of visitors to our site on a daily basis, advertising on New Zealand Tourism Online effectively means quality traffic is being driven to your door.

SPECIAL DEAL --> Buy any one of the feature positions before the end of June 08 and get an extra month for free.

Have a look at the many options. There are some excellent marketing spots including:

Major Category Feature Spot

For a higher profile, consider adding a Major Category Feature spot listing (limited options - please check with us). This can appear in a major category such as Transport. Only your business is featured so it's exclusively yours for the listing period.

Example: Accommodation

Map Category Feature Spot

Maybe you want to be profiled in your own category, such as boutique and heritage accommodation or scenic tours? Only your business is featured so it's exclusively yours for the listing period. Map Category Feature spot listings provide great exposure on the map page.

Example: Apartments

Activities Feature Spot

Feature your business on a visitor information page specific to your attraction or activity e.g. bungy jumping, horse riding or even weddings. Only your business is featured so it's exclusively yours for the listing period. Great opportunity to get an Activities Feature spot so your business is in front of those who want to know more.

Example: Bungy Jumping

Regional Feature Spot

For visitors who want to know more about a region, what there is to do, its history and scenic highlights, why not grab a Regional Feature spot? A maximum of 4 spots are available per region. Some regions are fully booked already so please check or ask us.

Example: Auckland

Driving Route Feature Spot

Ideal if you wish to target those visitors who are self-driving around New Zealand. Two different feature spots are available. The Driving Route Feature spot is a large feature which rotates (a max of 4 spots) while the Driving Route Details spots cover an actual driving route between two cities in detail (a max of 4 spots).

Example (Driving Route Feature): Auckland

Example (Driving Route Details): Auckland-Rotorua-Wellington

Directory Search Feature Spot

Quite a few people are familiar with search functions now and often use this to get quick results. You can profile your business at the top of the results page in the Directory Search as one of a maximum of 10 rotating spots in your category and region combination. Great opportunity and lots of spots sold already.

Example: Rotorua Accommodation or Wellington Transport (type in your own region and category)

Audio Visual Clip

According to the latest PhoCusWright Consumer Travel Trends Survey, nine out of ten online travel buyers (89%) say travel-related podcasts or online video influence their travel purchases. Join the 100's of tourism operators who already have an Audio Visual clip. A highly professional studio recorded multimedia clip is personalised for your business. Very cost effective.

Example: Audio Visual Directory

BUY or CHECK AVAILABILITY SPOT

Simply email us to order or to check the availability (give us the details of what you are interested in), contact your tourism consultant directly or call us on 0800-14-65-49.

Customer Email Surveys

MarketingSherpa, a research firm that tracks what works and what doesn’t in marketing, came out with a special report on using email to conduct customer surveys. One benefit of email marketing is that it’s a low cost way to do some research.

Also, using email to poll your customers is quick – the majority of responses (75%) are returned in just three days. You can also track and report on the results of your campaign.

Perhaps you want to know why people abandon their booking. Were they trying to find out pricing or availability? Did they change their mind? Surveys can help you pinpoint the answer.

Surveys can also be a good way to get feedback on what you’re doing right. You can put a comment box and the end. You may get testimonials or uncover problems you didn’t know about. Just get permission if you plan to use their words in your marketing.

Response Rates
In terms of response rates to these surveys, MarketingSherpa says:

• For prospects - between 1% and 5%
• For customers - anywhere from 20% to 55%

Of course it varies depending on your market. Make sure you test your survey extensively to iron out any bugs. Test the call to action, the graphics, the layout, subject lines, etc.

One effective subject line is “Take Our Brief Survey on [topic] and Enter to Win XXX,” according to CMP Media.

Here are some quick tips when designing a survey
• The email should be short 2 - 4 paragraphs with a strong call-to-action. Provide a well-placed link to the survey and then make it easy to fill out (preferably with drop down selection options). You don’t need another link except one to unsubscribe. The survey should direct the person to a Web site to fill out and not within the email.
• No more than 12 questions. Make it quick.
• The subject line matters – keep it 5 words or less and give them an idea on how long the survey will take.

Touchscreen Marketing and Research
As an alternative to email surveys, you may want to consider using some other tools including this from New Zealand company, Touchscreen Marketing and Research. You can lease a kiosk or tablet type onscreen devices and design specific surveys. These are ideal for finding out about your customer as they enter or leave your business. For more information on how it could work for you click here.

The Taxman

Tour operators who bring millions of dollars in foreign exchange earnings to New Zealand are up in arms over a tax U-turn they say could ruin them.

Despite previous written agreement with the Inland Revenue that their fees would be zero-rated for GST, some inbound tour operators are now being socked for the full rate of tax, leading to large unexpected bills they are struggling to pay.

Industry spokesmen say the actions are arbitrary, unfair and place New Zealand businesses at a disadvantage compared to overseas rivals.

"I've been in business 36 years," said one tour operator, "and I'm discouraged to the extent that I'm seriously considering closing up and going overseas."

Click here for the full story from www.stuff.co.nz