Newsletter : September 2017
Written by Steph Kendall
Welcome to the New Zealand Tourism Guide September 2017 issue. If you have news or comments, please email us news@tourism.net.nz.
In this September newsletter:
- South Island Promotion to Inspire Australian Travellers
- Network of Walks to Bring Visitors to Regions
- Christchurch Cathedral to Get Rebuilt
- Waitangi Treaty Grounds Takes Out Tourism Award
- Tools for Business: Eventbrite
- The Web Design Trend of Parallax Scrolling
- Tourism Site of the Month: Dunstan Downs High Country Sheep Station
South Island Promotion to Inspire Australian Travellers
A $1 million campaign kicked off this month with the aim of getting more Australians to tour the South Island during March and May 2018. The focus will be on five touring routes starting from Christchurch.
Starting all journeys in Christchurch is an important aspect of the campaign. "Regional dispersal is a key part of Tourism New Zealand's strategy to drive visitors to non-gateway regions. When travellers fly into Christchurch, they tour and tend to visit more than three other regions," says Tony Saunders, Tourism New Zealand's General Manager Australia.
The trips being marketed through digital and social channels cover the Top of the South, the Alpine Lakes and the TranzAlpine Explorer, a Southern Scenic route and a Nature and Heritage journey. The campaign will also include out-of-home advertising, with billboards and bus and train station advertising in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Australia's Channel 9 Travel Guides programme has filmed a South Island segment to air in March 2018.
Network of Walks to Bring Visitors to Regions
Nineteen short and single-day walks across New Zealand have been selected as the first in a network of walks that will be promoted to New Zealanders and international visitors.
"The walks are located across New Zealand and this really supports our strategy to encourage people into the regions and spread the many benefits that tourism delivers," said Stephen England-Hall, Chief Executive Tourism New Zealand.
Existing walks have been grouped together to make selection easier for visitors and to provide experiences appropriate for itineraries, fitness levels and preferences. Results showed New Zealand has a solid reputation as a walking destination with all markets researched ranking the country as a destination with great walking experiences. Short walks (3 hours or less) were of high interest across all markets with Germans showing most interest in day length walks. DOC and TNZ are now working on marketing activity to launch the walks domestically and internationally in October.
Christchurch Cathedral to Get Rebuilt
The decision has been made to rebuild the Anglican cathedral in Christchurch six years after it was badly damaged in the earthquakes of February 2011. The Anglican Church had wanted to tear it down and build a new cathedral saying the restorations costs of more than $100 million were prohibitive.
Heritage groups challenged the decision in court and the church's liability in the rebuild has been limited. The cathedral will be built to its basic design but strengthened for future quakes and improved with better heating and seating. The build is expecting to take 10 years, and cost of $104 million will be met by the church, taxpayers and donors. The cathedral was one of the top tourist attractions in the city before it was damaged.
Waitangi Treaty Grounds Takes Out Tourism Award
The Waitangi Treaty Grounds has won the Visitor Experience Award in the 2017 New Zealand Tourism Awards. Twenty-four leading tourism operators and stakeholders competed in the 2017 tourism awards - the $35 billion tourism industry's most prestigious.
Waitangi Treaty Grounds chief executive Greg McManus was thrilled with the win. "We are delighted with this recognition from the tourism industry. I am especially pleased for all our staff who come to work each day with the goal of delivering a fantastic experience for our visitors. We have a lot of new ideas in the pipeline so we will keep going with confidence towards our goal of being a world class visitor destination."
Tools for Business: Eventbrite
If you want to organise an event and promote it across your website, Facebook page and Twitter account, then investigate Eventbrite. It's an easy to use web platform that enables people to plan, promote and sell tickets to their events. Eventbrite was founded in 2006, is privately owned and makes its money by charging event organisers a percentage of the ticket price as a fee - it is useful for free events, as it does not charge any fees.
The Eventbrite website is worthwhile checking out - it boasts all the tools needed for organisers to plan, promote and manage events. It also lots of tips and information around its features including:
- Event registration and ticketing
- Event listing design
- Reserved seating
- Fundraising
- Ticket and payment options
- Promotional tools and automated event promotion
- Customer support
- Reporting and analytics
- Day-of event operations
Visit the Eventbrite website for more details.
The Web Design Trend of Parallax Scrolling
This month's Top Tourism Site of the Month (see Dunstan Downs High Country Sheep Station below) is a wonderful example of parallax scrolling in action. What...is...parallax scrolling? Well, it's the name given to the 3D effect created when scrolling down the page due the page background moving at a slower rate to the foreground. The term is derived from the Greek parallaxis meaning alteration.
Top Tourism Site of the Month
This month's Top Tourism Site Award goes to Dunstan Downs High Country Sheep Station.
Dunstan Downs High Country Sheep Station offers guests a farm stay experience in either a B&B, backpackers or remote musterer's hut. The images and colour palette of the website seem to reflect the style of accommodation, rural and unfussy. As the hosts say, "an experience we believe isn't offered in many places in the world."
Don't forget to marvel at the parallax scrolling - used to great effect on this website!
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
- June 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