Newsletter : September 2016
Written by Steph Kendall
Welcome to the New Zealand Tourism Guide www.tourism.net.nz September 2016 issue. If you have news or comments, please email us news@tourism.net.nz.
In this September newsletter:
Cast Your Vote for the People's Choice
Run by Tourism Industry Aotearoa, the 2016 New Zealand Tourism Awards celebrate the tourism industry's success and recognise individuals and businesses doing an outstanding job, generating economic wealth and supporting jobs in communities throughout the country. 28 finalists have been named. The winners will be announced on 29 September 2016. You still have time to vote for the People's Choice award (and go in to win an Air New Zealand Holidays Mystery Break™).
People's Choice Award Finalists:
- Auckland Seaplanes, Auckland
- Black Cat Cruises, Canterbury
- CQ Hotels Wellington, Wellington
- Haka Tours Ltd, Auckland
- Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools & Spa, Canterbury
- Hobbiton Movie Set & Farm Tours, Waikato
- NZSki Ltd, Queenstown
- Rainbow's End Theme Park, Auckland
- Rotorua Canopy Tours, Rotorua
- Takaro Trails Cycle Tours, Hawke's Bay
- The Langham Auckland, Auckland
- THL - Tourism Holdings Ltd, Waitomo Glowworm Caves, Waikato
- Waitangi Treaty Grounds, Northland
Record Set for Winter Tourism
New Zealand guest nights rose in July to a record for the month as soaring tourist numbers saw all-time highs in domestic and international stays across the country and in all accommodation types.
Statistics New Zealand said that national guest nights advanced 6.9 per cent to 2.6 million in July from the same month a year earlier. The biggest jump came from international guest nights (up 16 per cent), while domestic guest nights rose 2 per cent.
July Stats
- Overseas visitor arrivals for July rose 14 per cent to 237,900, a record for the month.
- The numbers of holidaymakers from China, Australia and the US surged.
- Annual visitor numbers through July rose 11 per cent to a record 3.34 million.
- Guest nights spent in the South Island increased 6 per cent to just over 1 million.
- North Island guest nights advanced 7.4 per cent to 1.6 million.
- Auckland was the most popular region recording 561,000 guest nights in the month.
- Holiday park guest nights were up 14 per cent compared to last July.
- Hotel guest nights rose 7.8 per cent compared to last July (and hotel occupancy rates rose 3.8 percentage points from the previous year to 62.4 per cent).
July Accommodation Shortfall for 20,000 Lions Fans
All Blacks Hospitality has exclusive rights to sell the packages ranging from $500 to $1600 in New Zealand and around the world - excluding Britain. All Blacks Hospitality will be allocated between 20,000 and 30,000 packages and chief executive Warren Barclay said recently that about 4000 had been sold.
With the exception of accommodation in Wellington and Auckland for June/July 2017, luxury accommodation packages for Lions fans are being sold slowly as the ballot for public tickets is still running. However, Barclay said home rental services such as Airbnb may end up filling an accommodation shortfall – good news for the 16,000 Airbnb hosts in New Zealand – and that for wealthy rugby tourists, money was not much of a problem.
British-based Lionstours.com says 75 per cent of packages have sold. It is offering trips up to 39 days long that can cost more than $25,000.
The 2005 Lions Tour a big earner for New Zealand, with over 20,000 fans bringing more than $120 million into the economy. Similar numbers are expected to arrive for the 2017 Tour.
Wellington's Burger Battle
As part of the culinary festival, Wellington on a Plate, eateries in the city were invited to put their burgers to the test. The festival ran from 12-28 August (it runs again in 2017 between 11-27 August) and "Burger Wellington" has become part of that festival's landscape.
There were 116 burgers entered in Burger Wellington 2016 – that's up 43% on 2015, and up a massive 231% on the first year, 2010, when there were 35 burgers taking part.
Burger fans rated their burger experiences on BurgerWelly.com. The winner of the best burger was Vietnamese-inspired eatery Apache with their Bang Bang Chicken burger. Although Burger Wellington has come to an end for 2016, some restaurants are keeping their burgers on for a very limited time. What a great way for restaurants to promote their humble (and not-so-humble) burgers and menus!
Tools for Business: Facebook Canvas
Data shows us that people are discovering new online content, brands and products through mobile apps. Unsurprisingly then, many advertisers are looking for new and creative ways to share information with people in this space. If this is you, then take a look at Facebook Canvas.
Facebook Canvas is a tool for advertisers created by the team at Facebook. Canvas enables the use of videos, pictures and carousel art in an advert in an easy-read mobile format that is fast to download, or as Facebook put it Canvas is "a new post-click, full-screen, immersive mobile ad experience on Facebook that loads nearly instantaneously..."
Canvas aims to give advertisers a digital space in which to build multimedia stories. The 'canvases' open from Facebook ads in people's News Feeds and can include a mix of video, still images, text and call-to-action buttons.
Facebook Canvas has been used by Burberry, Coca Cola, L'Occitane and New Zealand Tourism. However, according to Facebook, you may not need the resources of these large corporations as "The Canvas Builder tool makes it easy for anyone to create a Canvas". Take a look to see if Canvas is for you: https://canvas.facebook.com/
Top Tourism Site of the Month
This month's Top Tourism Site Award goes to Vector Wero Whitewater Park.
This business states its point of difference upfront – it offers water activities on the first ever man-made river and white water course in New Zealand, and it's world-class to boot. The conversational and direct tone of voice continues throughout the website in clear, informative and well-written copy. The headings are eye-catching, the photos are appealing and it's easy to navigate to each section of the site. The call to action graphics on the home page are appealing and the booking process 1-2-3-4 is exceptionally straightforward.
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: Ground Floor, 518 Colombo Street, Christchurch