Looking ahead - 2012 and the summer high season

The past few months have seen a significant increase in offshore marketing activity from Tourism New Zealand as the organisation works to increase visitor numbers over the busy summer high season.

Tourism New Zealand's Chief Executive, Kevin Bowler says that while the outcome of this work will become clear over time, Tourism New Zealand has been busy looking ahead to 2012.

"Our offshore General Managers have recently run a series of webinar sessions which have been really well received. The sessions gave an large number of people from the industry the opportunity to hear from offshore managers directly as we head into summer, as well as activity planned for the shoulder season and winter. The webinar format is one we see as highly cost and time effective for the industry allowing them to participate from their offices and is a format that we will look to utilise more in the future."

Heading into summer, Tourism New Zealand's Australia trade team is developing a Kiwi Specialist training programme for Australia's 30,000 travel agents. Tourism New Zealand will also partner with Regional Tourism Organisations and suppliers to ensure a strong New Zealand presence at consumer travel shows next year in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth. This is a trial activity to help industry test the value of attending consumer shows in Australia.

"We are also starting to work with industry partners to promote the 2012 ski season which offers great value for Australian travellers. These campaigns will not only talk about the snow but also the range of things available to do within close proximity to the ski fields such as thermal hot springs, wine tasting or golf and fishing," he says.

In China, the Yao Chen ambassador campaign activity continues to build on its earlier success. While in Japan, the recently launched 100% Pure digital campaign uses a range of interactive brochures and video footage to drive traffic to the newzealand.com site and through to travel sellers and operators.

In the UK, USA, and Germany campaign work continues to personalise the New Zealand experience to encourage active considerers to commit to coming here for their next trip.
Kevin says, "Accounting for a significant portion of visitors per annum, and nine of the top 15 markets for total days spent in New Zealand, the western long haul markets remain a priority. While the economy continues to be volatile in many of these markets we will look to make best use of joint venture activity with partners.

"Growth out of the USA is also looking positive and Canada, with its more stable economy should help lead to a steady performance in expansion of arrivals."

Careful targeting of the special interest sectors will continue in 2012 on the back of the recent youth campaign 'Stories beat stuff' and successes in the Business Events space.

"There is no doubt that 2012 will be another busy year for the industry and we are looking forward to maximising growth with our industry partners," he said.

For more information about our off-shore markets see the market activity guides or view the Australia, Western Markets and Asia Market webinar summaries.