Newsletter : November 2011
Written by Steph Kendall
Welcome to the New Zealand Tourism Guide www.tourism.net.nz November 2011 issue. If you have news or comments, please email us news@tourism.net.nz.
In this November newsletter:
New Zealand to Get Write Up in US Market
Tourism New Zealand hopes that influential North American travel writers and PR professionals will spread the word about 'destination New Zealand' in publications across the US and Canada.
From the 7th - 12th November, the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) will hold their annual convention in Wellington, following on from a board meeting in Auckland. The SATW is a significant professional association representing about 1200 professional journalists, photographers, media relations professionals and associates in North America.
The convention is supported jointly by Positively Wellington Tourism, Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand and includes 24 pre and post convention tours throughout the country. Tours include:
- Hiking and cycling in Tongariro
- Sightseeing around the lakes, mountains and glaciers of the South Island
- Wellington day tours including: boutique beer tasting and Middle Earth filming locations
Positively Wellington Tourism Chief Executive David Perks said the convention is perfectly timed for boosting the 'coolest little capital in the world's' profile in North America and beyond. "Wellington and New Zealand are very much on the world's radar courtesy of Lonely Planet Best in Travel 2011, Rugby World Cup and filming of The Hobbit. The release of The Hobbit will see that interest peak later next year, particularly in America..."
The Hobbit is currently being filmed in two parts, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again. The films are scheduled for release on 14th December 2012 and 13th December 2013 respectively.
Wear the Shoes of your Web Visitors
Written by Steph Kendall
If you own a tourism business that needs to attract the attention of, and more importantly bookings from, overseas clientele as well as from New Zealand's domestic market, then take a moment to stand in the shoes of your potential overseas customer. Take a look at your website through a non-English speaker's eyes. It's likely that one, if not all, of the following may apply to you now:
- It's written in a foreign language – "I don't understand it"
- It's difficult to know where to look for basic information – "How and where do I book this?"
- It assumes local knowledge – "Where exactly is it? How far is it from where I arrive?"
- Your business has an unpronounceable and difficult to spell name – "What was it called again?"
- The cost is in New Zealand dollars – "I can't work out how much this costs."
Find some suggestions on how to solve these issues of understanding below. The general gist being that when words get lost in translation, make sure that icons, images and widgets do the talking for you.
1. Translations – Use Country Flags
Take a foreign-language speaking visitor directly to a page (if you have one) that's written in their language through a clickable flag icon. Position these in easy to find locations on your home page (e.g. such as the right hand side of the page which naturally attracts the eye). If at all possible, steer away from translation widgets as these can skew meaning significantly and present language that is almost unintelligible.
2. Clear Location – Add a New Zealand Map
Make it easy for visitors to work out where your business is located by using a map (or map outline) of New Zealand with your business location or locations clearly indicated on it. Add the major tourism centres such as Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown to the map of each island. Don't assume that your visitors will 'just know' whether you are in the North or South Island, so use a map that includes both islands.
3. Booking Button – Use Colour Coding
Use a stand-out colour to highlight the booking button on your site e.g. if your website is themed around blue and white, consider adding a contrasting colour such as orange or red to the booking button. This draws the eye and differentiates the booking button from other buttons and menu navigation.
4. Be Easy to Find Again – Bookmark Button
Even if an overseas visitor has a good working knowledge of the English language, they may struggle to remember or spell business names correctly. This can be especially difficult for business names that play on English language meanings (e.g. puns), that are more than 2 words long or in Māori. Adding a 'bookmark this page' button may help these visitors find your website again if they leave it without making a booking.
5. Provide Local Knowledge – Weather Widget
Your overseas visitors may not know that Milford Sound is famous in New Zealand for its rainfall or that Hawke's Bay, the Bay of Plenty and Nelson enjoy the most hours of sunshine annually. So if you want to help your visitors pack the right gear, consider adding a weather widget to your website. Some of these are free online.
Other local knowledge that may help overseas web viewers can include:
- Driving Routes – Depict these as graphically or pictorially as possible, using maps, simple connecting lines and minimal text (e.g. 3 h for 3 hours)
- Local Facilities – Add a small map with icons showing what local facilities and services are near you and how far away they are (e.g. accommodation, supermarket, post office, petrol station, cafe).
6. Working Out Costs - Currency Conversion
Although there are free currency converters available online, try to avoid taking your visitors 'off site' to use them (e.g. don't just provide a link to a 3rd party website). Talk to your web developer about a conversion widget that can be loaded to your site and be realistic about whether you're going to recoup in kind the costs involved.
7. Accommodation Information – Icons Not Words
On accommodation websites, it's not uncommon to see lists of facilities for each establishment and each room type. Thankfully, most of these lists are at least bullet-pointed, but for non-English speakers or readers, these lists may as well be written backwards. Much of this information can be conveyed by icons which at a glance can tell anyone that an accommodation or room offers: parking, valet service, family rooms, swimming pool, Sky TV, kitchenette, hot drink making facilities, minibar, telephone, Internet, ironing board, etc. Look at online photo libraries such as www.istockphoto.com for inexpensive options.
8. Foreign Language Videos – Testimonial Time
Ask visitors from different countries whether you can make a short film featuring them telling their compatriots about your business. These videos can really be worth the time and effort as they are not only engaging and eye-catching, but in the language potential overseas clients can understand. Be sure to include a country flag next to the image of each short film so it's obvious what language each film features and try to ensure that what is said is 100% pure and positive (e.g. pick the right person to film!).
Free Visitor Information for your Website
If you would like to give your website visitors quick and easy access to information about New Zealand tourism, then consider adding one of our maps to your site. These maps include links to information about and providers of: accommodation, tours, transports and attractions.
If you don't want to offer links to other tourism providers, you can choose to add a map with links to general information about New Zealand and its regions.
Please note: When visitors click on these links, they will move onto the New Zealand Tourism Guide website.
Adding maps to your website can:
- Add value to the visitor experience
- Broaden the type of information available
- Increase the amount of quality informational material/links published on your website.
To add these maps or to find out more, simply visit map links.
See and Do NZ – Promotional Videos
Do you want your Web site visitors to instantly access a video of what there is to see and do in your area?
See and Do New Zealand® is a leading tourism multimedia company specialising in scenic videos of every major tourist location throughout New Zealand. They are offering FREE animated button links to "See and Do New Zealand" for your website.
You can have as many animated Buttons on your site as you like – here are a few sites with the buttons already loaded.
To get your FREE animated buttons with links just click here.
Simply choose the desired link and insert the code onto your Web site. Contact us if you need technical support.
Custom Promotional Video
If you'd like your own video promoting your business (research suggests increased sales are achieved by having a video), contact Andrea Thackwray on 021 230 6505, email enquiries@promotionalvideos.co.nz or visit www.promotionalvideos.co.nz
Top Tourism Site of the Month
This month's Top Tourism Site Award goes to Native Nature Tours
This website gets so much right. The beautiful combination of nature's own colour scheme along with stylish icons and logos supports the Native Nature Tours' brand and business of eco-treks, the great outdoors and Māori culture. The home page has it all: clear navigation, enticing offer, appealing images, easy to read text, testimonials and a clear 'book now' call to action. The use of 'award', membership and facebook logos and buttons is discreetly effective rather than overpowering. Introducing a site map for search engines and a location map for visitors could be considered.
Native Nature Tours offer guided day or multi-day eco and cultural treks for small groups (both beginner and experienced walkers) through rainforests in the Bay of Islands...
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: Level One, 534 Colombo Street, Christchurch