Newsletter : August 2016
Written by Steph Kendall
Welcome to the New Zealand Tourism Guide www.tourism.net.nz August 2016 issue. If you have news or comments, please email us news@tourism.net.nz.
In this August newsletter:
Disney Movie Makers Lured to New Zealand
Government incentives persuaded Disney to base production of their latest movie release, "Peter's Dragon" in New Zealand. The movie about an orphaned boy and his best friend (a dragon) is a mix of live action and CGI and premiered in New Zealand in Wellington on 12 August.
The results of the agreement were that at least 90 per cent of the shooting was done here; all of the special effects budget was spent at Weta Digital, (compared to the requirement of 75 per cent) and more than 80 per cent of the 1040-strong production crew were New Zealanders (more than the minimum 75 per cent). Tapanui was the biggest beneficiary of the deal with Disney directly hiring 21 per cent of the population - 163 people - and renting 55 houses in the town for cast members and crew.
Four-and-a-half weeks of filming took place in Rotorua and Tokoroa and four weeks in Wellington, both in Stone Street Studios in Miramar and in locations such as Hutt Hospital and Battle Hill Farm Forest Park in Porirua.
The marketing partnership included a deal with Tourism New Zealand and the Film Commission allowing it to use footage of the South Island taken by famous aerial filming helicopter pilot Alfie Speight. The cast of the movie were well-drilled to promote New Zealand too and clearly enjoyed their time here too! Robert Redford reportedly quite at home in "Paradise" (near Queenstown). Time to open the doors to "Peter's Dragon" fans and travellers perhaps?
$10m Chondola Gets Green Light
A new lift, a 'chondola' a combination of gondola cabins and chairs, will replace the existing McDougall's Quad in time for next ski and snow season at Cardrona Alpine Resort. With every fifth chair being a gondola cabin seating eight people, the new lift should help increase capacity and reduce queues onto the trails allowing for an average of 2,500 people an hour up the mountain.
The new chondola will be situated closer to the base improving access for non-skiing 'foot passengers' who can ride up on the chondola to enjoy the views.
Cardrona Alpine Resort general manager Bridget Legnavsky who has seen chondolas in action in Europe, China and the USA, says, "This innovation will enhance the experience of all our visitors in both summer and winter. We are confident it will become one of the iconic summer rides in the region…I think people are pretty excited about it."
"Friendliest Cities 2016" Results from Conde Nast Traveler
The results from a survey of over 120,000 Conde Nast readers are in and once again Queenstown has been rated as one of the world's friendliest place securing fourth top spot. Auckland dropped down the rankings this year making it to number 15 and Wellington also featured at number 17.
- Charleston, South Carolina, USA
- Sydney, Australia
- Dublin, Ireland
- Queenstown, New Zealand
- Park City, Utah, USA
- Galway, Ireland
- Savannah, Georgia, USA
- Krakow, Poland
- Bruges, Belgium
- Nashville, Tennessee, USA
(The top 10 unfriendliest cities were all in the USA by the way).
More Tourism Courses Planned to Meet Growing Demand
Ara Institute of Canterbury will offer a raft of new qualifications to meet growing demand in the tourism sector with new tourism and hospitality courses planned for its Timaru, Christchurch and Oamaru campuses.
The move follows strong and sustained growth in the tourism sector, with predictions showing a significant number of employees across a range of sectors will be required to meet growing demand. Projections suggest 36,000 extra full-time equivalent workers could be required to service the sector by 2025, according to the Tourism in 2025 project.
The project was framed around a goal of growing tourism into a $41 billion a year industry by 2025. It found that accommodation managers would be in the most demand, with an extra 8252 staff required by 2025. They were followed by chefs, with an extra 6213 needed, and waiters, with 4923 more staff required.
How to Create a USP for Your Business
Edited by Stephanie Kendall
Assuming that competing businesses offer a level-playing field with regard to booking-determining factors such as availability, price and facilities, what is it that makes one business stand out from another? The business that can develop and present a genuinely unique selling proposition (USP) or unique selling point may well be the business that wins the competition.
USP as an effective marketing theory was first proposed in the early advertising campaigns of the 1940s, when a strong USP could convince customers to switch brands. Today the term USP tends to refer to any aspect of an offer that differentiates it from other offers (or objects). University of Westminster's Dr James Blythe a Professor of Marketing says a USP "contains the one feature of the product that most stands out as different from the competition, and is usually a feature that conveys unique benefits to the consumer."
It is important to remember that a USP also has be something that the guest benefits from. Using historical fact, focussing on interior design elements or a decorative theme as a USP would be a mistake - instead the golden rule of thumb for an accommodation is to create a USP focussed on either (or all) location, comfort and value. All USP which are beneficial to the customer.
Location - your unique location may mean time-saving and convenience in reaching a conference centre, key sightseeing attraction or famous landmark. Comfort - mentioning extra comfortable beds that ensure a good night's sleep and the friendly staff who go the extra mile to make guests feel at home are direct benefits of your comfort proposition. Value - is your accommodation offer give customers value for money? You do not have to market your business as a "cheap", rather promote it as quality which offers great value for everything offered.
If you are having difficulty working out your USP, consider what your guests think of your business and how they feel about it. What is it about your business that was of particular benefit to them? Check out the guestbook for comments, ask them face to face what they enjoyed most about their stay, send them a survey (remember to include an incentive to get a reply) and read the reviews online.
Once you have worked out your USP – or created one - promote it consistently. If it's location for example, provide and publish information about any local event happening and keep your website content fresh and up-to-date with information about the locale. Become an 'expert' source of information and reward those guests who return to stay again (or who recommend friends).
Tools for Business: Pinterest
Think that only women use Pinterest? That its content focuses only on handicrafts and cookery? Time to think again! It's a highly effective social media tool that you can use to promote your business. Pinterest promotes itself as a catalogue of ideas which connects people by sharing pictures, videos, articles, advice and news about common interests. Each 'pin' is an idea or concept which points back to the originator's website (i.e. your business website). People add pins to their 'boards' and other Pinterest users can follow the boards from 'pinners' they like.
Pinterest publishes some easy to follow material about how to use Pinterest for business – well worth reading. Click on https://business.pinterest.com/en/getting-started
- Best Practice Guide - Learn how to: Make your website Pinterest-friendly, add Pins like a pro and help people find your business.
- How to Make Great Pins - Learn how to: Create Pins that are helpful, beautiful and actionable.
- Pinterest Ads Manager - Create and manage Promoted Pins in the Pinterest Ads Manager.
- Pinterest Analytics - Learn how to: Use Pinterest Analytics to learn more about your audience and see how Pins are performing from your profile and website.
The website also gives you plenty of information of how to get started, tools that help improve your pinning, reach and analysis of results.
Top Tourism Site of the Month
This month's Top Tourism Site Award goes to Alpine View Lodge.
This website is truly all things bright and beautiful – very clean-looking, modern, spacious, high quality. The headings are mostly easy to find and read, although the white text on light image backgrounds on the home page is a little difficult to read and does not click through to sub-pages. However, the main navigation menu is easy and simple to follow.
There is repeated reference to 'unique' within the copy, but the reader left to decide what is so unique about the accommodation – the surroundings, the hosts, the breakfasts? Perhaps the USPs could be more plainly stated. However, this is nonetheless a very attractive website presenting a lovely-looking accommodation.
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