Newsletter : February 2012
Written by Steph Kendall
Welcome to the New Zealand Tourism Guide www.tourism.net.nz February 2012 issue. If you have news or comments, please email us news@tourism.net.nz.
In this February newsletter:
Chance for Businesses to Partner Cycle Trails
New Zealand businesses are being invited to partner with the 18 Great Rides under Nga Haerenga, The New Zealand Cycle Trail (NZCT) and market themselves to the world. The New Zealand Cycle Trail has just launched its prospectus for 2012 NZCT Product Directory. View more information on Partnering with The New Zealand Cycle Trail.
- The concept is to build a network of cycle trails that would not only be a healthy and enjoyable way for Kiwis and international visitors to see the country but would also provide benefits for New Zealand communities.
- The 18 Great Rides are across New Zealand in regions including Northland, Hauraki, Rotorua, Opotiki/Gisborne, Waikato, Ruapehu, Taupo, Hawke's Bay, Nelson/Tasman, West Coast, Mount Cook/Waitaki, Queenstown, Southland and Clutha.
- On current projections, the 18 Great Rides are expected to provide more than 2,300 km of trail once completed.
- As at 30 November 1,533.5 km of New Zealand Cycle Trail had been completed (this includes 1,015 km of existing trail and 538.5 km of new trail).
Free Updated Christchurch Travel Guide
Lonely Planet's new edition of its travel guide to New Zealand is due out in September 2012. However, in an unusual step, Lonely Planet has released its 45 page guide to Christchurch online – making it free to download.
The region is discussed positively without glossing over the facts of living on a fault link with Christchurch described as a "vibrant city in transition, coping resiliently and creatively". Lonely Planet's Christchurch chapter can be downloaded for free at: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/new-zealand/christchurch-and-canterbury/christchurch/travel-tips-and-articles/76985.
More good news from Lonely Planet. In its January 2012 edition of Lonely Planet Asia, New Zealand is listed as one of the top 10 countries in Asia to visit and includes ten detailed pages in 'The Perfect Trip - New Zealand North Island'.
The Perfect Trip planner provides tips for visitors coming to the North Island on how best to navigate through attractions from Auckland to Wellington, with stops in Taupo, the Hawkes Bay and Napier. The 'Make It Happen' summary focuses on Auckland with nine tips on how to explore the city. The article also suggests three other amazing experiences to do while in New Zealand - including whale watching in Kaikora, climbing the West-coast glaciers and discovering glowworms in Waitomo.
Website Colours That Sell
Written by Steph Kendall
It is widely known that colour is a powerful psychological trigger and can create strong emotions within people, including the desire to buy or not to buy. Products and advertisements have a strong colour strategy designed by colour design specialists to encourage a positive reaction from consumers.
As one of the biggest advertisements for your business is your website, spend some time thinking about its colour scheme. It is partly this, your presentation and packaging if you like, that will sell your product to your target market. And although at the end of the day, each person will experience a unique reaction to a colour, trends have been identified between personality type and colour preferences.
Customers' Colour Preferences
Below are the associations that certain colours are said to have:
Reds
- Positive vibes: Love, warmth, excitement, passion, food
- Negative vibes: Danger, anger
- Dynamic and extrovert personalities have a preference for red
- Theory: Red makes people want to act, now.
Yellows
- Positive vibes: Warmth, inspiration, radiance
- Negative vibes: Sickness, cheap
- Intellectuals tend to prefer yellow
- Theory: Great for advertising news or offers. One study apparently showed that the colour combination with the most powerful psychological effect was: yellow title followed by white text on a dark blue background.
Oranges
- Positive vibes: Affordability, creativity, fun, youth, action, generosity
- Negative vibes: Lack of quality, cheap
- People who prefer orange are jolly and effusive.
Greens
- Positive vibes: Nature, life, money, eco-friendly, self-respect, well-being
- Negative vibes: Decay, toxicity, illness
- Consumers who prefer green are in favour of fresh, natural things and are practical by nature
- Theory: Green makes people want to spend money!
Blues
- Positive vibes: Power, professionalism, trustworthiness, calmness, peaceful
- Negative vibes: Boredom, sadness, conservative
- Blue is often a favourite colour for children and young people and reflects a non-violent, peaceful mind
- Theory: Many say blue creates a feeling of quality and trust.
Purples
- Positive vibes: Royalty, luxurious, fantasy, dreams, sexy
- Negative vibes: Nightmare, craziness, mourning, pain
- People who prefer purple may well be those who show good judgement.
Tips for Choosing Your Website Colours or Colour Scheme
Whilst a good web designer should create the right colour scheme for your website, they may also ask you what colour you had in mind in order to create something you will personally like. However, what you like and what colour scheme is best suited to your target market may be two different things. Try to keep your business hat on and get your house decorated in your favourite colour rather than your website!
- If your company has a logo or preferred colours on its stationery, that's a good starting point. Alternatively work from scratch with two or three complementary colours. View some colour scheme ideas at http://colorblender.com/browse.asp.
- Choose colours that steer the viewer towards positive associations rather than negative ones. You can do this by ensuring that the colours are never overwhelming (e.g. white space creates good balance as well as good usability/readability).
- Aim to create a certain 'mood' when picking your colour scheme, looking not only at the colours but their saturation or brightness. (e.g. the blue on a website for children may be a lot brighter than the blue on a more professional website for a law firm).
- The website should have one dominant colour with other blocks of colour drawing the eye to particular areas of the page (call to action button, special offers, hyperlinks, etc). The 'book now' button should be the most brightly-coloured element on the page.
- Make sure your text colour is easily visible against the background colour e.g. no black text on a dark blue background or yellow text on a white background. Black (or dark grey) text against a white background is the most sensible option. Try to avoid patterns behind the text itself, as it becomes unreadable when viewed in a browser.
- Know your audience – Find out as much as you can about your target market's age, income, interests, etc and choose your colour scheme accordingly.
- Look at other advertising – consider which images catch your attention and why and note down what colour schemes are being used.
Buy or Sell Your Tourism Business
New Zealand's tourism industry offers many opportunities to establish a new business or make a change in lifestyle. If you are interested in buying a tourism business outright or investing in one, then browse through our listings. New Zealand Tourism Guide lists a range of tourism businesses for sale including:
Accommodation Businesses for Sale
Attraction/Activity Businesses for Sale
Hospitality Businesses For Sale
And conversely, if you are seeking to sell your existing tourism business or are looking for investors, view more information at https://www.tourism.net.nz/new-zealand/tourism-businesses-for-sale/.
Top Tourism Site of the Month
This month's Top Tourism Site Award goes to Moongate Villa, Bay of Islands
Although the layout and text of the home page could be tweaked a little to avoid such lengthy scrolling, typos and multitude of font styles, this website uses high quality photography and a short YouTube movie with an appealing soundtrack to good effect. The "Book Now' button is clear and located in the optimum position, the text is easy to read with prominent headings and page links are easy to find and follow.
Moongate Villa offers exclusive luxury apartment-style accommodation and rooms in Kerikeri, a popular holiday destination 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