Newsletter : January 2015
Written by Steph Kendall
Welcome to the New Zealand Tourism Guide www.tourism.net.nz January 2015 issue. If you have news or comments, please email us news@tourism.net.nz.
In this January newsletter:
Safety Tips on Steering Wheels
Tourists renting cars across the country will now find simple road safety tips on the steering wheels. After a positive response from a trial run in Queenstown, removable tags on steering wheels will feature safety messages in rental cars nationwide.
The tags were developed by the Rental Vehicle Association and other agencies as part of the Government's Visiting Drivers Signature Road Safety Project.
The steering wheel tags aim to get vital safety information to visitor drivers such as wearing seatbelts, keeping left, safe speeds, safe over-taking and driver fatigue. The messages and graphics were developed based on feedback from the rental vehicle industry, Police, the NZ Transport Agency and a behavioural psychologist specialising in road safety.
Several other initiatives to keep visiting drivers safer on our roads are either underway, or about to get underway including a Jucy 282 bed pod hotel near Christchurch Airport.
Brits Vote NZ 'Best Country' for 3rd Consecutive Year
90,000 British readers of the Daily Telegraph named New Zealand as the 'best country' at the 2014 Daily Telegraph Travel Awards for the third year in a row ahead of the Maldives and South Africa.
The Telegraph said, "This [New Zealand] is a place where British tourists can enjoy the thrill of long-haul travel, coupled with the reassurance of being greeted in our native tongue - albeit spoken with that characteristic twang."
Popular activities mentioned including: Marlborough wine tastings, rugby, Māori heritage and traditions, birdlife, food, bungy jumping, adrenalin activities and more.
UK visitor numbers had dipped following the global financial crisis but are recovering. Prime Minister and Tourism Minister John Key said the award was proof the Government's $600 million investment in tourism was paying off. He went on to say that about 2.8 million people visited New Zealand during the last year, spending over $7 billion.
During 2014, tourism directly employed 4.7 per cent of the New Zealand workforce and indirectly employs another 3.6 per cent. Key said the government would continue to invest across a wide range of areas in tourism infrastructure and marketing reach.
New Zealand Gets Boost in Indonesia
At the end of last year, Tourism Ambassador in Indonesia Joe Taslim and his family visited New Zealand accompanied by celebrity TV star and social media commentator, Sarah Sechan.
Joe shot to fame in action films The Raid: Redemption and The Fast and The Furious 6 and has a strong presence on social media in Indonesia with 197,000 Twitter followers, over 131,000 Instagram followers and more than 53,600 Facebook fans.
Sarah Sechan has her own talk show, which screens nightly and has over two million followers on her combined Twitter accounts. Tourism New Zealand's Justin Watson says that Sarah Sechen's talk show is described as "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" of Indonesia. "Sarah accompanied Joe and his family on their tour of New Zealand and filmed two episodes which screened in December. It was a great coup to secure the visit, as this is the first time Sarah's show has been filmed outside Jakarta. Sarah is known for her bubbly and outgoing presentation style, making her an ideal choice for showcasing New Zealand's premium family and scenic experiences."
It's estimated that over one million in equivalent advertising value was achieved from social media activity generated by Joe Taslim and Sarah Sechan during their New Zealand visit. Indonesia is a key emerging market for Tourism New Zealand alongside India and Latin America, as its strong economy is resulting in exponential growth in outbound travel.
Blogging for Business Not Pleasure
Written by Steph Kendall
If you have decided to publish a blog on your business website, then it is really important to create a 'blog plan' and to commit to updating the blog regularly. An out-of-date blog post sends the rather negative messages to viewers that you can't be bothered with your blog's upkeep, have nothing of interest to say about your business or that you don't have the skills to manage resources and time.
Below are a few suggestions for anyone setting up a business blog:
- Blog Models - Before you start, take a look at those business blogs you like and those you don't. Write down what you do and don't like about them and then try to model your blog on all the positive points. Think about the tone of voice posts are written in, the topics covered and the marketing and promotional tactics used.
- Blog Names - You may decide to call your business blog 'Blog' but why not be a little more creative? You may find inspiration from your company's core product (e.g. a winery could refer to its blog as 'Uncorked', a lingerie company 'Laid Bare', a campground 'Fireside Chat' and so forth).
- Work out your WWW – Who, What, Why - Have a think about who your core audience is and what they might enjoy reading about. Why will they want to keep reading your blog? Are you posting interesting news about your business endeavours, human-interest stories, updates about new products – what is it that will keep your audience interested?
- Blog Marketing - Make your blog an inclusive part of your overall marketing strategy. It will help make you more disciplined about updating it and help your business publish material of interest to your potential customer.
- Editorial Schedule - Create an editorial schedule for a 6 month period if you can, including dates for each post (e.g. fortnightly) and outline the topics your posts will cover. Make sure they relate to the events within your business and allow for holidays/busy periods. This will help you create content when the time comes (or you could of course write 12 short blog posts when the writing mood strikes and simply schedule the publication dates - allow for flexibility when doing this). If you need to, ask your colleagues to help you brainstorm post topics.
- Writing Posts - When you have your blog topic in mind, sketch out its purpose, its headings and main points. Research your topic and include links to other information. If you can add at least one picture/graphic to the post as the blog will look much more appealing to the viewer. Before you hit 'Publish' make sure you have proofread your text – including picture captions. Sloppy grammar, typos and factual mistakes will not impress your reader.
- Enjoy Your Blog - If you feel enthusiastic about your business blog, the quality of your posts will improve. People will pick up on your passion and be more likely to stay posted!
- Workout When It's Working - Knowing when to keep going or when to stop is just as important with a blog as with any other form of social media. Evaluate your results – is your blog meeting any business goals? Is it helping to generate any sales or enquiries, have you received any requests for media or information about your business, are you gaining any newsletter subscriptions? If not, you may need to look at your blogging strategy with fresh eyes.
10 Tips to Improve Business
Compiled by Steph Kendall
This month's tips are compiled from small tourism business owners, who have remained in business through both fat and lean times and who have been sustained by their vision, dedication and commitment. See what you think of these quick tips:
- Be motived by more than money - If your only motivation is money, pick another business! Your business needs to be sustained by its purpose beyond its own existence.
- Balance purpose with profit - A noble purpose is not enough on its own….ensure that your business can pay its bills.
- Use your mentors - Choose your mentors wisely and listen to them. When mentors move on, find others who can continue to inspire and guide you.
- Lead through example - Act as you would want your staff to act – with integrity, compassion and professionalism.
- Accept your strengths... and weaknesses - Employ people with complementary skills and don't beat yourself up if you can't do everything brilliantly.
- Respond to the good, the bad and the ugly - In the days of social media, every bad customer experience and poor review can literally be laid bare to all, so own up to and respond to any mistakes in an open and frank manner. Try to provide an appropriate solution and learn from the experience.
- Know your business - Don't leave it to the accountant or the bookkeeper, even if they are family. Know what the state of your business is – know how many bookings you have, who owes you, who you owe...
- Diversify - Be very cautious about putting all your business eggs into one basket. Respond to market changes and continue to create opportunities for your business.
- Be open - Listen to the ideas, innovations and solutions that your colleagues and employees offer. They may just know something you don't.
- Be a good employer - Pay fair wages, treasure your team members and encourage career aspirations. A good team is at the heart of any business and can make the difference between gold and gone.
More Business Tips
You'll find more business tips in our newsletter archive, alongside:
Top Tourism Site of the Month
This month's Top Tourism Site Award goes to Volcanic Hills Winery, Rotorua.
There is a lovely clean, modern and fresh feel about this website that definitely gets you in the mood for a glass of beautiful, white New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc! This is a well-planned website, which entices the reader in with some beautiful home page photography. The costs of wine-tastings on a sub-page could perhaps be moved to the home page along with a nice clear button/graphical link for 'Where to find us' (a map is not always that easy to find when it's on situated a 'Contact' page). However, this website is so nicely written and styled, it's easy to overlook incomplete pages and rather old blog posts.
Nominate a Site
If you think a New Zealand travel or tourism website deserves a 'Top Tourism Site Award', let us know about it. (View further information about the award criteria).
About the Top Tourism Site Award
The New Zealand Tourism Guide confers a Top Tourism Site Award to websites that:
- Enhance New Zealand as a travel destination
- Publish useful and informative content
- Are laid out in a professional and aesthetically-pleasing manner
- Are designed effectively for the World Wide Web
- May demonstrate easy functionality, interactivity, originality, outstanding graphic quality and marketing reach.
We welcome any feedback — send your comments to: news@tourism.net.nz
Kind regards,
The Team
Ph 0800 14 65 49
www.tourism.net.nz
New Zealand Tourism Guide
Head Office: Ground Floor, 518 Colombo Street, Christchurch