Newsletter : May 2018
Written by Steph Kendall
Welcome to the New Zealand Tourism Guide May 2018 issue. If you have news or comments, please email us news@tourism.net.nz.
In this May newsletter:
- Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand Promote NZ Offshore
- Tourism New Zealand Plans to Evolve the 100% Pure Brand
- Kiwis and PM Help to #getNZonthemap
- Architect Returns to Reinvigorate Christchurch
- Big Bird in New Zealand Eco Paradise
- Waitākere Ranges Operators Still Able to Operate
- Tips for Business: Communicating Effectively with Chinese Visitors
- Tourism Site of the Month: Nelson Tasman Air
Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand Promote NZ Offshore
Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand have re-committed to their marketing partnership worth up to $20 million annually to promote New Zealand offshore.
The two organisations re-signed their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) this month outlining their intent to again invest up to $10 million each over the coming 12 months for joint activity in Australia, China, North and South America, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom and Europe.
This is the sixth consecutive year Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand have coordinated their international market development and promotion, taking the total joint investment to over $100 million to date.
Tourism New Zealand Plans to Evolve the 100% Pure Brand
Tourism New Zealand has announced plans to evolve the 100% Pure brand, take an active role in helping regions grow by $1 billion per annum and ensure that growth is sustainable and enriches New Zealand.
Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive, Stephen England-Hall says "Tourism growth is a global phenomenon that has delivered benefits for New Zealand. However, the success of the past is no guarantee of the future. We collectively need to do things differently to ensure that future growth is sustainable and enriching for the long-term benefit of New Zealand..."
"...Over the coming months Tourism New Zealand will source and share new valuable visitor insights with industry and government to guide decision making and identify opportunities."
This includes obtaining detailed information about international visitor activity when they are in the country - where are they going, what are they spending their money on and what do they want to experience.
The information will also be used to inform campaign work and marketing and storytelling workshops for industry to ensure visitors include regional visits into their holidays.
"Tourism New Zealand will help regional tourism grow by $1 billion per annum more than current numbers by developing, implementing and promoting strategies that are inclusive of our regions as well as the gateways that connect them to the world."
England-Hall also announced changes ahead for the iconic 100% Pure Tourism New Zealand brand.
"The brand is incredibly successful, showcasing the country's landscapes and scenery and has worked because it reinforces the key reasons visitors choose New Zealand. What it doesn't do is showcase New Zealand's unique people and culture, our way of being, our warm welcome. This is what we know stays with people after they have visited and becomes the essence of our brand that people share and talk about long after they return to their country."
Kiwis and PM Help to #getNZonthemap
Influential Kiwi figures, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and comedian Rhys Darby have been involved in a new campaign to encourage the addition of New Zealand to all world maps. The campaign is a light hearted video in which Darby investigates potential global conspiracies to leave NZ off world maps.
View the video.
Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive Stephen England-Hall says having the support of the Prime Minister is a huge boost to the campaign work. International media outlets including BBC, the Telegraph and Conde Nast Traveler have got wind of the situation, and a Reddit 'Maps Without NZ' discussion board has a following of more than 40,000.
Tourism New Zealand's primary purpose is to attract high-value visitors to New Zealand for the benefit of New Zealand and New Zealanders. Tourism contributes $14.5 billion a year to the national economy, and supports communities and businesses across the country. Tourism directly or indirectly employs one-in-seven New Zealanders.
Tourism New Zealand is calling on New Zealanders to share the video and #getNZonthemap. The video campaign is being pushed to key visitor markets such as the USA, UK and Australia.
Architect Returns to Reinvigorate Christchurch
After a successful collaboration on the Transitional (Cardboard) Cathedral in Christchurch, innovative Japanese architect Shigeru Ban has again partnered with Warren and Mahoney on a commercial building in Christchurch's Cathedral Square.
The building was commissioned by property owner Redson Corporation Holdings Limited for its tourism business Aotea Gifts. In addition to a flagship store for Aotea Gifts, Braided Rivers will also house a restaurant, courtyard-style café and other retail tenancies.
Shigeru Ban, a Pritzker Prize winning architect, has established himself as the master of unconventional materials. The interiors will reflect Ban's signature style, with clean lines, warm materials and an abundance of natural light.
Resource Consent applications were lodged this week, and it is anticipated that construction will start in October 2018, with completion scheduled for late 2019.
Big Bird in New Zealand Eco Paradise
Big Bird (the giant yellow canary from Sesame Street) was joined by Sesame Street friends Bert and Ernie and comedian Bret McKenzie when he visited Zealandia Eco-Sanctuary, an inner city paradise and safe haven for a thriving urban population of rare birds in Wellington, New Zealand.
Hosting Big Bird in his hometown Bret McKenzie showed his guest the capital city sights with first stop at Zealandia to meet some distant cousins. At a media appearance earlier the same day, the co-stars talked about their visit, citing New Zealand's natural environment and hospitality as among their top impressions.
"We love New Zealand, it's so beautiful here." (Ernie)
"It's very green, and that's important to me." (Kermit)
"New Zealand people say hello to you when you walk down the street." (Bert)
While in Wellington, the group ticked off a top five list of places and family friendly attractions to visit including Zealandia Eco-sanctuary, Cuba Street Bucket Fountain, Te Papa - the national museum, the waterfront walkways and Red Rocks seal colony.
Acknowledged as one of Australasia's top 25 eco projects, Zealandia Eco-sanctuary is a 10-minute drive or short bus ride from Wellington's urban centre. The sanctuary is a 500-year vision to return part of Wellington to its pre-human state, and has involved developing over 35km of walkways through 252ha of regenerating native forest protecting wildlife behind 8kms of predator-proof fences. Reintroduced native flora and fauna include rare New Zealand tuatara (dinosaur reptiles), flightless birds such as the kiwi and takahe, and forest parrot.
Waitākere Ranges Operators Still Able to Operate
Tourism companies who guide visitors through the Waitākere Ranges will still be able to use a limited number of tracks following the park closing to the general public on 1 May 2018.
The closure of the park is aimed to protect to kauri trees, currently at risk due of kauri dieback disease. Auckland Council will begin work on upgrading tracks and improvements to the park to re-establish coastal connectivity and multi-day walking opportunities.
Tips for Business: Communicating Effectively with Chinese Visitors
This is the fifth article in a series of tips for business focussing on how to give great customer service to international visitors. The first four articles focussed on:
- The Importance of Body Language (January)
- Active Listening and Understanding (February)
- Showing Respect and Awareness of Differences (March)
- Communicating Effectively in Words and Speech (April)
This month we focus on a few general guidelines on how people from China might act. Although they can't predict every individual's behaviour in every circumstance, they may provide a useful starting point.
12 Things to Know
- Chinese people no longer bow (unlike the Japanese or Koreans) and will shake hands with you.
- When greeting a group of Chinese people, it is polite to address the oldest person in the group first.
- If a Chinese person does not look you in the eye when greeting you, know it is a sign of respect.
- Chinese names traditionally begin with the surname followed by the first name. For example, if you were to meet Zhang Ai, you would great her as Miss or Ms Zhang.
- Many younger people have learned English, but some sounds in English don't exist in Chinese, so be patient in conversation.
- Chinese culture includes three features: Confucianism, mianzi and guanxi. Confucianism is an ancient ethical and philosophical system promoting ways that promote harmony and the social good. Mianzi (or saving face) is about preserving the honour and respect of an entire group. This may include not answering a question or laughing nervously in an awkward moment. (You can help by changing the subject and taking the attention away from a situation). Guanxi is a respect for connections and relationships. This means you may find a group relies on one spokesman regardless of who is being attended too.
- The Chinese value politeness and courteous greetings as a demonstration of respect.
- New brand names and products are of interest, not just value for money.
- Menu and cutlery in New Zealand may be unfamiliar. Chinese visitors may appreciate you offering them chopsticks and explaining the menu.
- There are 300 million smokers in China, nearly one-third of the world's total and very few no-smoking rules in China. Be prepared to explain smoking rules.
- Chinese people tend not to show emotion through their facial expressions - look for other clues as to what they are feeling.
- Do try to say a few words in Chinese as it will be appreciated.
Top Tourism Site of the Month
This month's Top Tourism Site Award goes to Nelson Tasman Air.
Just when you think that web designers have exhausted all the ways to make home pages stand out, you come across a new one. The Nelson Tasman Air website is a very striking website design, not least because of its revolving collection of striking and high-quality photography on the home page, but the plane and boat silhouette images on the home page too are something different. It's a very clever design touch and the design wave echoes the very eye-catching shout line "Do Amazing!".
Simply put this website is so clear, so beautiful to look at - it's hard not to want to do something amazing. A joy to navigate its pages.
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
- June 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