Newsletter : April 2014
Written by Steph Kendall
Welcome to the New Zealand Tourism Guide www.tourism.net.nz April 2014 issue. If you have news or comments, please email us news@tourism.net.nz.
In this April newsletter:
India Votes New Zealand a Favourite
New Zealand has been named as the best destination outside of Asia and Europe by readers of India's leading travel publication - Outlook Traveller. The awards were held in New Delhi at the end of March with New Zealand's award "Favourite Destination in Rest of the World" collected by New Zealand's Acting High Commissioner to India, Michael Appleton.
Tourism New Zealand significantly increased its investment in India as a result of additional funding provided in the May 2013 budget. The awards are the collated results of Outlook Traveller's annual survey - where readers are invited to share their travel experiences and preferences via the magazine's website. The 2013 survey attracted over 7,500 responses, providing an authoritative benchmark of consumer preferences in the areas of travel and tourism across 40 categories, including hotels, airlines and holiday destinations.
Destination Superyacht
A new partnership between Tourism New Zealand, Auckland Tourism Economic and Events Development (ATEED), New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and NZ Marine, formalises an active campaign to attract superyachts to New Zealand.
"Attracting more superyachts to visit New Zealand's shores is an excellent way to drive high-end tourism. Targeting these high net worth individuals to come and experience our unique and diverse range of luxury products, experiences and culture is a core part of Tourism New Zealand's marketing strategy to grow their arrivals and spend while in New Zealand," says Justin Watson for Tourism New Zealand.
The group will work to promote all the elements that make New Zealand such a desirable superyacht destination, including:
- World class refit and marina facilities
- Cosmopolitan bases for crew
- More than 15,000km of unspoilt coastline
Focus will be on three key areas: promoting New Zealand as a cruising destination for private and charter yachts; promoting the expanding infrastructure and facilities within NZ and overseas; and promoting the capabilities of the refit, repair and manufacturing sectors.
In 2013, it is estimated that superyachts brought $185 million dollars of marine industry spend and $95 million dollars of tourism spend to the country. The goal now is to increase marine industry spend to $352 million and tourism spend to $190 million by 2018.
10 Google Apps for Businesses on the Go
Edited by Steph Kendall
We've all heard of that little ol'search engine called Google, but did you know that Google is more than keeping up with Microsoft's other apps and programs too. Here's an overview of some of the tools available:
- Gmail Email with Google-powered search offers up to 30 GB of storage, offline support and custom email addresses. Gmail works on any computer or mobile device with a data connection. Powerful search lets you find everything in your mail account and labels and filters help with organisation. From your inbox, you can also connect by text, voice and video chat lets you see who's online and connect instantly. You can also see your contacts' profile photos, recent updates and shared docs next to each email.
- Calendar This tool enables users to easily schedule meetings, get meeting reminders, share calendars and meeting materials. You can also create an event calendar and embed it on your website or set up appointment slots so customers can choose the best time for them.
- Drive Google Drive allows you to store files in the cloud, share them and have access to them from anywhere. Google Drive gives you access to your work from anywhere. Simply download Drive on your Mac or PC to sync files from your computer to the cloud. Update a file on one device and changes are automatically saved to Drive and your other device, so you have the most up-to-date version of your files wherever you need them. You can share files or whole folders with individuals, your entire team or even customers and partners. In the Docs, Sheets and Slides editors multiple people can work on the same document at the same time.
- Docs Create rich documents with images, tables, equations, drawings, links and more. Gather input and manage feedback with social commenting.
- Sheets Keep and share lists, track projects, analyse data and track results with Google's spreadsheet editor. Use tools like advanced formulas, embedded charts, filters and pivot tables to get new perspectives on data.
- Slides Create beautiful slides with Google's presentation editor, which supports things like embedded videos, animations and dynamic slide transitions. You can publish your presentations on the web so anyone can view them, or share them privately.
- Hangouts Google's messaging, voice and meetings app. Hangouts is connected to other apps like Gmail, Calendar and Drive so you can start a quick conversation from your inbox, add a video meeting to a calendar event, or work on a document together during the call. Hangouts runs right in the web browser so it works from whatever computer you're using and the Hangouts mobile app is available on iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets.
- Sites Build project sites without writing a single line of code. It's as easy as writing a document and a useful tool for sharing information with colleagues rather than using it as a publically viewed website.
- Vault As the name suggests, this is an archiving, e-discovery and information governance tool featuring legal hold placement on users, super search tool for archived material, audits, email and chat archives.
- Quick Office Downloading Quick Office means your files will be in your Google Drive. You can then create and edit Word, Excel®, and PowerPoint® files on your iPhone, iPad and Android device.
There are even more apps developed by Google. If you want to take a tour of products and give them a try, visit http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/products.html#more
10 Tips to Improve Business
Compiled by Steph Kendall
This month our tips focus on keeping up to date with advice, marketing strategies, business plans, the economic climate, invoicing and social media. Lots to think about!
- Advice from the professionals - Seek the advice of qualified professional, such as accountants on a regular basis.
- Ensure you have a marketing strategy - Develop an annual marketing plan with enough resources to implement it.
- Measure your marketing - Make sure you undertake activities which provides measurable results or which achieve specific outcomes.
- Target old and new customers differently - Appreciate the difference in your target markets of new or existing customers and develop separate and appropriate marketing strategies for each.
- Take into account the current environment - If circumstances change, then update your business plan accordingly taking into account changes to budgets and forecasts.
- Look for cost-cutting measures - Review your business practises regularly and try to employ cost-cutting measures wherever possible to increase your cash flow.
- Invoice quickly and collect quickly - Keep the cash flow flowing and make sure you are on top of your invoicing and debt collection.
- Schedule time to review your website statistics - These can be an invaluable tool in helping you decide whether to re-develop new or edit existing marketing content.
- Keep up to date with social media - Don't leave the social media marketing to the youngest member of your staff, make sure you know how it works and use it to maximum business effect.
- Keep in touch with industry news and stats - Review industry news on Tourism New Zealand's website, Stuff and Statistics New Zealand, which publishes the monthly international travel and migration statistics.
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 Whare Kea Lodge & Chalet.
This beautiful looking website more than embraces the concepts of light and space, and in doing so reflects the spirit and design of the lodge's architecture, interiors and cuisine. Some of the website's particularly appealing and effective elements include:
- Quality, aspirational photography which makes one 'want to be there'
- Unusual typeface which echoes the 'high-end' appeal of the product
- Easy to find offers and packages
- Easy to use menu and 'book now' button
- Elegantly written text full of hyperlinks to entice readers 'into' the rest of the site
- Provision of current New Zealand time
- Effective use of the kea motif in the page watermark.
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