Newsletter : October 2013
Written by Steph Kendall
Welcome to the New Zealand Tourism Guide www.tourism.net.nz October 2013 issue. If you have news or comments, please email us news@tourism.net.nz.
In this October newsletter:
August Visitor Figures Show Strong Growth
Tourism New Zealand says a strong growth in international arrivals during August confirms just how good the 2013 ski season has been for the tourism industry. Arrivals were up 6.2 per cent for the month compared to August 2012.
Good News Figures
- Total arrivals were up 6.0 per cent when compared to the full year ending August 2012
- Visitor numbers from Australia performed well topping 100,000 for the first time in an August month. Total arrivals from Australia were up 4.7 per cent for the month and 1.3 per cent for the year.
- Traditional long-haul markets all show growth and pleasing increases during August. Holiday arrivals from the UK were up 25.9 per cent, USA up 14.7 per cent and Germany up 10.1 per cent for the month.
- Holiday stay days from these markets grew also: the UK by 11.5 per cent, USA up 6.7 per cent and Germany up a staggering 38.1 per cent for the month of August (compared to last August.)
- China also supported its increase in holiday arrivals during August (up 29.9 per cent) with a strong increase in holiday stay days, up 32.4 per cent for the month.
The strong growth across leading markets in August follows Tourism New Zealand's recent release of the latest edition of the 100% Middle-earth, 100% Pure New Zealand advertising campaign, with new campaign activity underway to support sustained growth over the coming months.
A Playground of Epic Proportions
Youth travellers from the UK, Germany, USA and Canada are being encouraged to come and visit a “playground of epic proportions” - with the launch of TNZ's latest youth campaign. Launched this week in the UK, the campaign follows the success of the 'Epic Experiences' campaign that ran earlier in the year.
"We know that September through to November is a key booking period for youth travellers in Europe," says Gregg Anderson, General Manager Western Markets. "To further drive conversion, the campaign's creative is an evolution of our most recent Epic-Experiences campaign which resonated strongly in market - with 42 per cent of UK and 62 per cent of German youth travellers reporting they were motivated by the advertisements."
Run across digital and social channels over the next 11 weeks, the campaign is supported in market by industry partners to encourage conversion. Online traffic will be driven to a dedicated youth hub within the market versions of newzealand.com, providing more information to encourage bookings.
Activity launches in Germany, USA and Canada over the coming weeks.
Where are the Brazilian Tourists?
Over the last couple of months Tourism New Zealand undertook a detailed analysis of Brazil's potential for delivering visitors to New Zealand to find out what actions TNZ can take to improve visitor numbers. The research examined general consumer trends and the market's size and behaviours, before delving into the defined target market of "emerging considerers".
"Emerging considerers" (EC) are people who, like "active considerers", already have a preference for New Zealand as a holiday destination. A summary of results follows:
- Brazil represents a sizeable potential market for New Zealand, as there is a large population of EC and they tend to be wealthier than other long haul travellers
- EC are relatively evenly spread across age segments, although the older segment are wealthier, but regardless of age, travel parties are predominantly couples or families
- Landscapes and scenery is the key destination attribute but the type of holiday - having fun, relaxing and interacting with friendly, local people is also important. New Zealand is not differentiated on the most relevant attributes and in some segments actually lags competitors on some of New Zealand's traditional strengths such as landscape - especially in the attractive 50+ segment.
- New Zealand is also undifferentiated against Australia, which is a major competitor especially with the 50+ segment.
- The activities that EC are more interested in are generally outdoor activities, but they tend to be more passive, such as taking a scenic boat ride.
- Although only a small proportion of EC travel specifically to undertake an activity, there are some niches that New Zealand could exploit such as mountain biking, fishing and hiking
- While travel preferences for EC are experiential, there is a preference for package travel, possibly due to the popularity of deferred payment in Brazil
- While EC are large users of the Internet, offline channels, including TV shows are important channels for getting information about getting around and what to see and do
- Offline sources are still important in the booking and payment process
- EC are vociferous users of Social Media, especially Facebook and Twitter, and a high proportion follow brands on Social Media
You can view the full report online.
Your World Market
Compiled and written by Steph Kendall
The data below is sourced from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s website and relates to its International Visitor Survey (based on interviews with 5,200 visitors) for the period year to June 2013.
Spending by visitors to New Zealand remained fairly constant over the last year at $5.5 billion, according to the International Visitor Survey released recently by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. Notable changes included:
- A large decrease in the total spend by visitors from the UK and their spend per person.
- Strong growth in the China market with total spend by Chinese visitors increasing by 24%.
- Australia continues to be New Zealand’s largest tourism market, with Australian residents spending $1.6 billion while visiting New Zealand in this period.
The 10 largest visitors markets and their corresponding spend are listed below:
1. | Australia | $1,600 million |
2. | China | $645 million |
3. | UK | $415 million |
4. | USA | $414 million |
5. | Japan | $262 million |
6. | Germany | $218 million |
7. | Korea | $158 million |
8. | Canada | $112 million |
9. | Singapore | $107 million |
10. | Taiwan | $82 million |
Outside of the top 10 visitor markets, a further $1,458 million was spent by visitors from other countries. This very significant figure highlights not only the importance of marketing to New Zealand’s largest tourism markets – but remembering that a marketing plan needs to allow for a ‘world’ market approach.
Marketing to the World
Marketing New Zealand to the world was the aim of Tourism New Zealand’s 100% Pure New Zealand campaign, first launched in 1999. The campaign worked hard to create a uniquely New Zealand experience for the world market by communicating about activities, landscapes, people and culture that could be experienced by visitors to our country.
So when you are creating your marketing collateral, stop and consider whether you are marketing your business in a way that expresses all that is uniquely “New Zealand’ about it. Consider how visitors in your ‘world’ market – 250 countries – may be viewing your presentation of your business.
For example, a bed and breakfast in Christchurch New Zealand could market itself to a world audience by stressing in its marketing collateral (print and digital) the following:
- Its unique location – communicated through scenic photographs and enticingly written text
- The ‘Kiwiness’ of its hosts – communicated through biographic information about what may be attractive about ‘real’ NZ hosts, (friendliness/lack of pretension, ‘Kiwi warmth/welcome’, willingness to ‘go the extra mile’)
- Detailed information about the city that makes it interesting to a visitor (e.g. the new Cardboard Cathedral, Antarctic Centre and Botanical Gardens)
- The local knowledge – details of attractions and activities unique to the area
- Little details that make the difference – a breakfast that includes locally sourced products; the décor of a house that reflects its heritage and location; furnishings which suit the seasons, ‘mood shots’ (and provision) of ‘traditional’ Kiwi fare: kiwifruit, pavlova and lamb racks, etc.
The NZTG website attracts visitors from 207 different countries. Turkmenistan being the 207th - we hope that during that visit, we showed our Turkmen visitor all that was unique, beautiful, enticing and enriching about our country. Who knows, he or she may be booking their flight as you read.
10 Tips to Improve Business
Written by Steph Kendall
- Plenty of advance planning for key marketing campaigns and all marketing collateral can help ensure you get the best results from your graphic designer and copywriter.
- Keep an eye on emerging tourism markets (e.g. Brazil) and see how you could tap into their potential by using their preferred media channels.
- Give your website a facelift – revitalise your website with a mini makeover (new photographs and text alterations) or a complete revamp (new design and development) to keep your online appeal fresh and enticing.
- Review your advertising spend – you may save on marketing expenditure and focus on advertising that generates bookings and income.
- Make sure you are regularly viewing your web statistics and make use of Google's free tools such as Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools.
- Check your website's statistic for mobile device usage. If your site is viewed on mobile devices, then consider mobile friendly web design for your website.
- Generate a QR code for your printed material: brochures, advertisements, flyers, rack cards, postcards, invoices and letter heads. A QR is scanned by smartphone users and directs them to a specific web address.
- Google' Keyword Tool has been replaced by the Keyword Planner, which according to Google makes it easier to plan search campaigns. Use Ad group ideas if you are planning AdWords campaigns and Keyword ideas if you researching an SEO campaign.
- List for free on www.traveltrade.newzealand.com, a valuable resource for travel sellers with a huge range of information about New Zealand, an interactive database of tourism products, maps and transport information, news, commentary and online training modules.
- Proofread all marketing material before it's published online or in print. The level of care and attention you give to what you say reflects on your whole business
More Business Tips
You'll find more business tips in our newsletter archive, alongside:
Top Tourism Site of the Month
This month's Top Tourism Site Award goes to Air Milford.
Air Milford offer scenic and charter flights throughout Fiordland and the Southern Alps in New Zealand's South Island. Their new website design
has much to recommend it including:
- Great quality photography
- Clear website navigation
- Excellent video tour
- Perfect page position for bookings and enquiry CTA (see page top right)
- Home page use of TripAdvisor award, review rating and testimonials
It will be nice to see all the pages fully-finished and proofed and some viewers may find the background image overwhelms the white body text making it slightly hard to read, but overall an excellent job.
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, 518 Colombo Street, Christchurch