Newsletter : February 2016
Written by Steph Kendall
Welcome to the New Zealand Tourism Guide www.tourism.net.nz February 2016 issue. If you have news or comments, please email us news@tourism.net.nz.
In this February newsletter:
Megan Gale Set to Lure Lycra Wearers to NZ
Tourism New Zealand recently launched a new marketing campaign designed to encourage high-spending Australian cyclists to tour New Zealand with their mates or families in the off-peak autumn and spring periods.
Australian model, Megan Gale (whose half-Māori mother was born in New Zealand) was chosen as the face of the new campaign – the first ambassador to promote cycling to the Australian market. The Aussie model and actress hopped on the bike last October for the first time since the birth of her now 21-month-old son, experiencing the best of New Zealand's food, wine, history and culture while filming the tourism campaign.
TNZ Chief Executive Kevin Bowler said of the choice as Ms Gale as an ambassador, "We really wanted to show the cycling option as an accessible one: the idea that you don't have to be a Tour de France cyclist to enjoy a holiday, in the same way you can do a walking holiday or a winter holiday on the ski slopes even if you aren't a professional athlete." He added, "Our data says that people who come to pursue special interests, as we call it, tend to stay longer and be the biggest spenders in New Zealand. Whether that is skiing, cycling, walking or golf, people who travel like that tend to be more valuable visitors to New Zealand."
Since 2009, the New Zealand government and local communities have invested over $80 million in developing the country's cycle trails.
Money Can't Buy It - Out of the Woods
US singer Taylor Swift has a following of over 70 million fans on Twitter and they all got to see her endorse Bethells Beach in Auckland as the most beautiful beach she has ever seen.
Popstar Swift tweeted a behind-the-scenes clip of the making of the video to her 70 million Twitter followers, and in it she doesn't just heap praise on the beach. She said, "We are in New Zealand on one of -- not one of -- the most beautiful beach I've ever been on in my life…These are the most elaborate sets I've ever seen and I think they have such amazing access to incredible trees and plants and things in New Zealand. I mean, that's all I can come up with to explain why the forest sets are so good."
The west coast Auckland beach was one of several New Zealand locations Swift used in her 'Out of the Woods' music video. In the first 24 hours that it was uploaded, the video had almost 500,000 views, which has potential benefits for the tourism industry in New Zealand. 'Out of The Woods' has since racked up nearly 52 million streams on VEVO. It's the kind of exposure that money would be hard-pressed to buy!
You can watch it by clicking on the 'Out of The Woods' link.
Tourism New Zealand Spent $1.2 million to Sell NZ to the World
Chinese celebrities, a group of aspiring German models, and a British royal correspondent were among those who enjoyed whirlwind tours of New Zealand out of the taxpayer purse last year. Information obtained under the Official Information Act shows 261 media parties visited New Zealand during the 2015 financial year on trips paid for by Tourism New Zealand as part of its International Media Programme.
The Crown entity's budget for the year was $1.2 million for New Zealand-based costs (international flights were often provided through airline partnerships). Journalists, broadcasters, digital influencers and bloggers visited from 19 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Thailand, UK and USA.
Their trips resulted in 4218 stories about New Zealand, generating an equivalent advertising value estimated at $157.2 million, Tourism New Zealand said. This was based on how much it would have cost to purchase the same amount of advertising space in a publication.
Smoothing Out the Highs and the Lows
If you experience New Zealand's traditional off-peak autumn and spring periods in your business, perhaps these suggestions can help smooth out the high and the lows, the peaks and the troughs...
Marketing
- Spend any 'down' time marketing your business and build up the hype towards your next busy period.
- Chase up reviews from your customers via email – encourage them to post on Facebook - theirs and yours (photo or 'best said words' competitions are always popular), tweet or leave comments on popular review websites.
- Write new content for your website pages, blogs and Facebook posts (remember you can schedule your publishing, but getting the written work in advance can save you time later when you're busy with customers)
- Offer to write articles and posts for other websites or print publications.
Specials
- Create special offers and target them to specific audiences such as the domestic or local markets. (A strong local endorsement can help to generate repeat business and great word of mouth.)
- Remember to adapt your products and pricing accordingly.
MICE
- The MICE market stands for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions and this could possibly be a receptive target market in low season. Look at your business and see what and how you can create packages in a way that appeals to the (local) corporate market.
Partnerships
- Review your partnerships or relationships with travel agents and consider inviting key representatives for a 'famil' (familiarisation is a PR tool designed to give select people the opportunity to experience a region, venue, product or package). Setting up a 'famil' hosted by your business and other tourism providers provides a great opportunity to create interest in your local area.
Invention
- Invent reasons on the calendar why people should use your business in the low-season. Dream up an event or festival that will bring people in – brainstorm with other local businesses on how you can create interest in your region.
Media
- Develop your relationships with local and national media and use your time to 'schmooze' them.
- Write and send releases about what you are doing in the low season that will make the high season even more enticing (new attractions, new product, new menu, new staff, etc.,etc.)
Tools for Business: Canva
Canva is an online graphic design platform. It offers free access to a wide assortment of design tools and options, as well as premium options for paying customers. Unlike many internet-based tools and programs, this platform wasn't founded in the US, but in Australia in 2012 by graphic design lecturer at the University of Western Australia.
The website now claims over 7.8 million users who have created over 56 million designs, a library of over 61 million images (not bad for 898 days in action at the time of this count). Canva uses a simple drag and drop design tool and a library of layouts, graphics, images and fonts to help non-designers and professionals create web and print media designs and graphics.
The website helps professional designers showcase their work and provides a 'design school' for those getting started including tutorials, daily blog and workshop materials (all free).
Canva is perfect for creating professional looking designs that you can utilise across your business and it's really easy to use. Pre-made templates can be used for presentations, posters, ads, letterheads, social media posts – by adding your own logo to these templates, you'll create great looking designs quickly, affordably and what's more, you'll probably enjoy the process too. Top tip: Go to canva.com when you know what you need to create, otherwise it's easy to waste time 'playing'!
Top Tourism Site of the Month
This month's Top Tourism Site Award goes to Red Cottage Staveley.
The Red Cottage in Staveley is billed as a perfect romantic getaway accommodation complete with open fires, candles, warm wooden ambience, sunsets, outdoor baths and movie under the stars.
The way in which the owners have marketed this property could well be a great lesson for all accommodation providers. They have created a very clear sense of the property, its point of difference and its market through the website. The website creates huge appeal for the cottage accommodation – an appeal created through enticing copy and utterly charming photographs; the use of hand-written excerpts from their visitor book for the testimonials is also rather inspired. On the activities page, it may have been preferable to include pictures featuring real clients rather than stock photography, but otherwise, it is hard to find fault with the website itself. (The Facebook page could be more regularly updated.)
Two other websites were reviewed this month and interestingly both would have benefitted from proofreading and time spent introducing basic search engine optimisation techniques. Please take some time to review these past articles (advice that's still current today).
- Optimise Your Website With Meta Data
- Create Search Engine Success with A Google Friendly Website
- Proofreading Memo
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