Business Bulletin : May 2019

Compiled by Steph Kendall

In this bulletin:

• Strong Chinese Visitor Numbers for Early 2019
• Video Game Educates Travel Agents
• Auckland Plans for 26th America Cup
• New Factory Tour is a Hit with Visitors
• New International Dark Sky Sanctuary
• Business Centre
• Business Support Services - Event Venues
• Affordable Website Design
• Tourism Site of the Month: Abba Court Motel

Strong Chinese Visitor Numbers for Early 2019

An early Chinese New Year has resulted in strong January holiday visitor arrivals from China, while other key markets follow global trends with an expected slowdown in growth.

Official International Visitor Arrivals figures released recently shows New Zealand tourism remains healthy with holiday visitor arrivals up 2.2 percent in January 2019. This growth is driven by holiday visitors from China, New Zealand's most valuable visitor group which contributed around $1.7 billion of spend in the country last year.

Video Game Educates Travel Agents

Kiwi Peak Pros was launched in March. It's an educational video game that challenges users to collect as many icons as possible while they learn about New Zealand's ski regions. Tourism New Zealand has partnered with Air New Zealand to launch the game used to educate travel agents about New Zealand's ski regions.

Auckland Plans for 36th America Cup

Two years ahead of the first race for the 36th America's Cup, preparations are gathering pace in Auckland. The America's Cup team village will be based on the waterfront in the heart of Auckland city and much of the racing action will be visible from city vantage points promising great viewing for onshore spectators.

The 36th America's Cup (AC36) - to be contested on Auckland's Hauraki Gulf from 6 to 21 March 2021 - will be the best America's Cup yet, according to Auckland Mayor Phil Goff, who says it will provide a great opportunity not only to showcase the city of Auckland but also New Zealand's technology and sporting skills to the world. The city is working hard to put the infrastructure in place with dredging and construction work underway.

New Factory Tour is a Hit with Visitors

Pic's Peanut Butter World is a purpose-built destination for locals and visitors to the Nelson Tasman region and a fantastic place to visit for all lovers of good food and peanut butter.

The most important part of Pic's Peanut Butter World is the free factory tour. From specially constructed viewing platforms visitors can see Pic's Peanut Butter being made, meet the people who make their favourite spread, learn more about owner Pic Picot's journey and even make their own peanut butter. Pic Picot is described as being to peanut butter what Willy Wonka is to chocolate. His factory celebrates all things whimsical.

New International Dark Sky Sanctuary

Stewart Island/Rakiura was officially recognised at the beginning of the year for its exceptional night sky quality. It's already a conservation sanctuary but now Stewart Island/Rakiura - New Zealand's third largest island - has also been recognised as an international dark sky sanctuary.

Image: Stewart Island / Rakiura International Dark Sky Sanctuary - Aurora Australis
Credit: Rebecca Wilson Jennings

Business Centre

Have you checked out our online Business Centre recently? This is where to go for useful tools and information selected especially for use by New Zealand tourism operators.

Advertising - If you have opened a new business or launched a new website, remember that at New Zealand Tourism Guide, we provide tourism operators with the opportunity to list their business free of charge on what is the most extensive tourism, travel and holiday Web site in New Zealand. Read more about how to advertise with us.

Business Support Services - Event Venues

When you need a venue for your business event, check in to see what's available near you with our business support services for Event Planning - conference and convention centres, conference facilities with rooms, event venues and meeting rooms and corporate retreats.

Affordable Website Design

How does your website look on a mobile phone or tablet? Is your website lost in search engines? Are you unhappy with your current website provider? We can help! We offer a full range of website services, from creating beautiful, modern, mobile ready websites, to website hosting, and getting you ranked in search engines. We offer affordable quality, without compromise.

0800 999 549 | info@kww.nz | www.kww.nz

Top Tourism Site of the Month

This month's Top Tourism Site Award goes to Abba Court Motel.

www.abba.co.nz

Abba Court Motel is a family friendly motel equipped with excellent facilities, and a range of warm, comfortable and affordable self-contained units right in the heart of New Zealand's tourist gem, Queenstown. The homepage on their website displays dazzling imagery and gives a true highlight of what you can expect when you're in Queenstown. This website is expertly designed, features parallax scrolling on a fully responsive layout, providing a fantastic user experience.

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:

1. Enhance New Zealand as a travel destination
2. Publish useful and informative content
3. Are laid out in a professional and aesthetically-pleasing manner
4. Are designed effectively for the World Wide Web
5. Demonstrate easy functionality, interactivity, originality, outstanding graphic quality and marketing reach.

We welcome any feedback — send your comments to: news@tourism.net.nz