TRENZ 2008

It’s been a huge week for the 35 Rotorua operators who showcased their product at Tourism Rendezvous New Zealand 2008. While there is lots of follow up work yet to come, the general consensus is that despite lower buyer numbers, exhibiting at TRENZ still offers extremely worthwhile opportunities. Feedback about Rotorua, the venues, the ease of getting around and the networking functions has also been hugely positive, says DRTM GM Don Gunn. “Once again buyers and exhibitors gave the thumbs up to the whole Rotorua experience,” said Don. “Our overseas guests on trade, media and buyer famils were blown away by what Rotorua has on offer; and being blessed with great weather all week certainly enhanced their experiences.” As part of Rotorua’s networking functions the Rotorua Luxury Cluster (which Don acts as the DRTM facilitator) hosted a successful dinner for 35 top buyers at Peppers on the Point on Wednesday night. DRTM also organised a successful activities afternoon and co-sponsored (in conjunction with TIA) a media dinner for the 45 international and domestic journalists in Rotorua for TRENZ. The dinner was held at Treetops Lodge & Wilderness Estate on Tuesday night.

What’s new on local scene

The Winter 2008 issue of In Essence, DRTM’s twice a year update on new and redeveloped Rotorua product, was released at TRENZ earlier this week. Aimed at trade and media, mail outs have begun to domestic and overseas media, IBOs (Inbound Tour Operators), offshore wholesalers, airlines, TNZ, TIA, PCOs, incentive houses and the TRENZ database. Electronic copies can be downloaded from both the trade and media areas of our rotoruaNZ.com website.

Reminder to get those contracts in

The close off date to get contracts in to be part of DRTM’s 2008/09 marketing collateral and JV opportunities is today, Friday, May 30. The guide details DRTM’s planned activity and partner opportunities for the 12 months from July 1, 2008, through to June 30, 2009. It also includes a number of new opportunities like video clips and banner advertising on rotoruaNZ.com and the chance to advertise on our new Spanish language website – www.rotoruaNZ.es. If you haven't received a copy or have any last minute queries, email Domestic and Events Co-ordinator Hayley McVicar, hayley@rotoruaNZ.com 

Kia Ora, welcome

DRTM GM Don Gunn says the office is fully supportive of Destination Rotorua Tourism Board’s initiative to get Rotorua behind a ‘Kia Ora’ campaign. Spearheaded by Renee Nathan and Doug Tamaki, the strategy aims to get the Rotorua visitor industry (and ultimately the wider community) to use Kia Ora as the universal first person greeting to all domestic and international visitors. Renee and Doug briefed the DRTM team on the campaign’s goal last week; mainly to get Rotorua recognised as New Zealand’s most welcoming and friendly destination in the same way Hawaii is famous for its friendly ‘Aloha' greeting and Fiji is known for ‘Bula’. DRTM currently uses Kia Ora on all electronic newsletters, industry mail outs, letters and website (which also features a section on simple Maori words and phrases) and we are now working on an across the board approach for its use on telephone, voice messages, emails and the like.   

Welcome back Mrs Crampton

Following her return to work on May 12, after eight months maternity leave, Assistant GM Ruth Crampton (nee McIntyre) hit the ground running in the lead up to TRENZ.   

Pursuing C & I markets in Australia

DRTM’s C & I Co-ordinator Melissa Grey is currently in Australia. She was in Sydney for last week’s Australia on Sale Tradeshow, May 21/22, then in Melbourne this week to undertake some sales calls.

Bye bye Hayley

DRTM is very sad to be losing the services of our Domestic and Events Co-ordinator, Hayley McVicar. After 14 months with the team Hayley has resigned to live and work in Dubai with husband Craig. GM Don Gunn says Hayley has been “a great team member who has excelled in her role.” Hayley’s last day will be on June 20 and applications for her replacement close on Friday, May 30. Interested? Contact the Rotorua District Council’s HR department today on 350 0209 for details.      

Add ons roll out

As usual DRTM’s suite of websites continue to add more innovations. Most recent additions are a trade events area to alert industry about possible tradeshow opportunities on and offshore, a seasonal (autumn) imagery section, a sliding news and events feature on the homepage and an extended transport section. A new locator map and foreign language media kits for our foreign language sites are on the drawing board.

Get active online

DRTM have undertaken an online banner advertising campaign throughout May and June. Using a range of adverts with an event, competition or generic focus, Rotorua is being featured on Trade Me’s Travel Bug, Eventfinder, NZ Herald, Stuff, Scoop, Yellow Pages and AA Travel websites. In the past week the Travel Bug and NZ Herald sites have together delivered more than 500 visitors to our rotoruaNZ.com website. The accompanying graphic shows a new ad set to run on the AA Travel website from the beginning of June. By cheekily using an AA road sign, DRTM are leveraging off AA’s current I love you New Zealand/101 Must-Do weekends campaign that’s encouraging Kiwis to “get off their bums” and discover their own country.

Web stats round up

A three-month Google AdWords campaign begun by DRTM in April is already proving worthwhile. Designed to boost interest in events and specific areas/activities on the rotoruaNZ.com site throughout Australasia, in the past month we have received 2184 click throughs from within NZ and 732 from Australia - a total of 3380 and 1016 respectively so far. The past month has also seen 129 referrals to rotoruaNZ.com from the AA Travel website as part of Rotorua’s participation in the AA Travel’s ‘I love you New Zealand’ campaign. According to Google Analytics’ BETA benchmarking system rotoruaNZ.com attracted 346.52% more visitors (looking at 193,854 pageviews) than ‘vacation destinations’ websites of a similar size during the April 26- May 26 period while another benchmarking system, Alexa recorded rotoruaNZ.com as the fifth highest ranked RTO site (in terms of traffic) behind Wellington, Auckland, Queenstown and Christchurch. The Vianet online accommodation booking option instigated by DRTM in February continues to see steady growth as does the average time spent on our sites. Time on the foreign site ranges from 3:46 minutes on average for the new Spanish site to 5:26 minutes on average for the Korean site while visitors to the main site stayed on average 7:33 minutes each. 

Nature-based tourism survey

Visiting a beach is the most popular nature-based activity for both
international and domestic visitors. According to the latest Tourism Ministry sector profile (on nature-based tourism) the next most favoured option for internationals is scenic boat cruises followed in popularity by geothermal attractions, scenic drives, half-day bush walks, one-day treks, hot pools, lakes, land sightseeing and glaciers. New Zealanders ranked fishing as their second favourite nature-based activity followed by land sightseeing, hot pools, scenic drives, skiing/snowsports, half-hour bush walks, half-day bush walks, scenic boat cruises and hunting/shooting. The profile says that in 2006, visitors took part in 15.7 million nature-based activities; with 42% being enjoyed by international visitors and 58% by domestic visitors. The likelihood of international tourists participating in at least one nature-based tourism activity has remained high and stable at around 71% of visitors. RTO areas with the greatest number of international nature-based tourists over the 2005/06 period were Auckland (703,600 nature-based activities per year - a 10.4% share of all international nature-based activities), Rotorua (683,800/10.1%) and West Coast (607,400/8.5 percent). For domestic tourists, Auckland was the most popular for nature-based activities followed by Northland and Canterbury. Overall Auckland had the most visitors undertaking nature-based activities (2.23 million activities annually) followed by Northland (1.40 million), Canterbury (1.37 million) and Rotorua (1.19 million). Overseas-based nature visitors mainly come from Australia (29 percent), the UK (15 percent) and the US (11 percent).

Visitor Statistics - March 2008

New Zealand International Visitor Arrivals (IVA)
International visitor arrivals to New Zealand for the month of March 2008 were up 4.9% over March 2007. Arrivals were up from Australia (up 7.8%), UK (up 8.4%), USA (up 6%), China (up 20%) and Germany (up 6.6%). There were fewer arrivals from Japan (down 9.5%) and Korea (down 30.8%). 

Rotorua Commercial Accommodation Monitor (CAM)
Visitor arrivals to Rotorua commercial accommodation providers for the month of March 2008 were up 2.4% over March 2007. Domestic visitor nights were up 3.0% and international visitor nights were down 2.8%, resulting in a .4% decrease in visitor nights overall. Nationally, visitor nights spent in commercial accommodation for the same period increased 6.9%.

Rotorua Attraction Monitor
Visits to Rotorua Attraction Monitor participant businesses for the month of March 2008 were up .6% over March 2007. For the same period domestic attraction visits were up 2.6% and international attraction visits were down .1%. 

Most of the tourism monitors are freely available by subscription and can be downloaded from rotoruaNZ.com. For more information about Rotorua visitor statistics or to subscribe to any of the monitors contact Research Co-ordinator Gina George on 349 7289 or email gina@rotoruaNZ.com

The word from Norm

Keeping tourism operators in business during slower economic times is crucial if New Zealand is to continue to reap the benefits of tourism. So says Tourism Industry Association (TIA) Chairman Norm Thompson. Speaking at TRENZ 2008 this week, Norm said tourism businesses, along with all other NZ export sectors, are facing slowing visitor growth. International visitor arrivals grew only 1% in the past 12 months due to economic slowdowns in some key markets, intense competition from other international visitor destinations and rising international airfares due to fuel price hikes, he said. On the positive side, there had been a welcome jump in the number of visitors from Australia and China. But arrivals from key markets like Japan and Korea had dropped, while the UK, Europe and US had levelled out. “As a country, we need to ensure that we can not only reap the benefits when visitor demand is high but continue to keep our tourism operators in business during times of slower economic growth. Tourism is NZ’s single biggest export industry, bringing in $8.3b or 19.2% of the country’s total export earnings – more than other key export groups like $5.9b from dairying – and we want to keep it that way.” He went on to say tourism operators are investing significantly in improving the visitor experience, whether through new planes, new hotels, more environmentally friendly coaches and other facility upgrades. “The goal of TRENZ is to help them maximise the returns from such investment, to drive business for our exhibitors and the wider tourism industry.” Around 320 of NZ’s top tourism operators participated in TRENZ which wound up with a gala dinner at Energy Events Centre last night. 

Auckland gets TRENZ 09

TIA Acting Chief Executive Oscar Nathan announced at TRENZ on Wednesday that Auckland would host the country’s largest annual tourism event held at Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds next year, June 8-11. TRENZ was last held in Auckland in 2003. Oscar added that as New Zealand’s biggest city and the gateway to NZ for more than 70% of all visitors, Auckland is perfectly positioned to host TRENZ 2009.

Celebrate Matariki

Events to celebrate the Maori New Year, Matariki, start in Rotorua this weekend. Creative Rotorua has released a brochure detailing local Matariki events, exhibitions and deals to warm up winter. They include a dawn ceremony, cooking with master chef Charles Royal, dance and theatre performances, a pancake breakfast, carving and harakeke (flax) demonstrations and a family fun day. Also known as Pleiades, Matariki is a small star cluster which appears in early June, heralding new beginnings and the Maori New Year. Matariki was traditionally a time for feasting to celebrate the completion of the harvest and storage in preparation for the winter ahead. Kiri Jarden, the Rotorua District Council’s Community Arts Officer, says “There are incentives for people of all ages to get out and enjoy some indigenous flavour. Rotorua is the cultural hub of New Zealand, and this year’s Matariki activities take advantage of the resources we have in our community.” Matariki programmes are available from City Focus and the Public Library as well as local galleries and participating businesses.

Trio make finals of prestigious national awards

Hearty congratulations to the three Rotorua attractions among the 29 finalists in the 2008 Tourism Industry Awards announced at TRENZ 2008 earlier this week. The Agrodome is a finalist in the Visitor Attraction category, NZ Riverjet is a finalist in the Small Tourism Operator category and Rainbow Springs Nature Park and Kiwi Encounter is a finalist in both the Visitor Attraction and Conservation in Action categories. Reflecting many different sectors within the tourism industry, the finalists are a mix of previous entrants and businesses new to the awards programme. Announcing the finalists TIA Acting Chief Executive Oscar Nathan reiterated that the tourism industry needed strong, high performing businesses across all facets of the industry. He said “All aspects of finalists’ businesses have been closely scrutinised by a panel of industry judges and have more than made the grade. They are leading operators in tourism and provide great role models for other businesses to aspire to.”

Among best in South Pacific

Described as “a place of extraordinary natural beauty”, Rotorua was named one of the top South Pacific destinations by one of the world’s biggest travel websites last month. Rotorua won a Destinations Award in the TripAdvisor’s 2008 Travelers' Choice Awards after being voted in at No.13 in a list of the top 25 South Pacific destinations. Now in their sixth year, the Travelers’ Choice Awards are judged entirely by TripAdvisor members – all travellers themselves – and, according to the website, are among the most coveted awards in the tourism industry. Destination Rotorua Tourism Marketing GM Don Gunn said “It’s pleasing to see such positive feedback, and it shows that travellers to Rotorua are enjoying their time here and obviously taking advantage of the wide range of activities available.”

First local attraction  

It’s been a great month for Rainbow Springs Nature Park and Kiwi Encounter. Not only have they been named as finalists in the prestigious New Zealand Tourism Awards but they became the first visitor attraction in Rotorua to achieve Green Globe Benchmarked status under the global benchmarking programme. In achieving Bronze Benchmarked status, Rainbow Springs has committed to benchmarking its energy and water consumption, total waste production, community commitment, paper, cleaning products and pesticide usage; along with implementing an integrated environmental and social policy. In particular it has achieved Best Practice results in energy consumption, waste recycling and vehicle management. These measures will ensure efficient practices, significant cost savings and secure a sustainable future for the nature park.

Gold award

Rotorua’s Paradise Valley Springs has been recognised with an Entertainment Gold Award. The Springs was voted into first place in the activities category of the award from 68 other Rotorua, Waikato and Bay of Plenty businesses. In its 15th year, the award is co-ordinated by Entertainment Publications, producers of the Entertainment Book. The results are based on customer voting which takes place between January 1 and December 31 each year. It’s the first time that a Rotorua business has taken out the award. Springs owner Stuart Hamlett says although they receive comments from domestic and international guests telling us how much they have enjoyed their experience with us, “receiving the Entertainment Gold Award is the icing on the cake to acknowledge the efforts of the Paradise Valley Springs team and the level of service they provide.”

Off to Aussie

Te Puia’s Sales Manager - Western Markets, Andrew Dobson, has resigned and is heading across the ditch. After two years, Andrew will finish up at Te Puia on June 20 before is flying out to Melbourne on July 2.

Promotion for Jenny

The Agrodome’s former Reservations Manager, Jenny Tukiwaho-Stokes, has been promoted to the role of Sales and Marketing Co-ordinator for the company. Owners Warren Harford and Paul Bowen say Jenny has proven that she has all the credentials needed for such a key position. She will work in conjunction with Denise Siviter of Lakeland Queen and Melissa Mills from Agroventures. Her email contact is jenny@agrodome.co.nz

New Novotel appointment

Anil Sood has been appointed as Hotel Manager for Novotel Rotorua Lakeside. Anil has more than 26 years hospitality experience including close to five years with Accor franchise properties. He was most recently with Grand Mecure Oakridge Queenstown.  

Lodge to land

Swapping a suit for gumboots is everyone’s idea of the ideal career move but Nick Anderson made the leap from lodge life to life on the land last Friday. Assistant Manager at Treetops Lodge & Wilderness Estate for the past 20 months, Nick has gone dairy farming in Morrinsville. 

Barry’s back with VAS

Following five years as the Rotorua Westpac Rescue Helicopter pilot Barry Vincent has returned to Volcanic Air Safaris (VAS) as Chief Pilot, a role he previously held from 1998 to 2003. According to the latest VAS newsletter, Barry’s 4000 hours of flying experience involves many areas of helicopter operation including tourism, lifting, search and rescue, freight provision, powerline survey and filming and photography. His new role is to look after the overall helicopter operation and act as Quality Assurance Manager. Tristan Evans has also joined the Rotorua helicopter team. With more than 1100 hours of flying experience, Tristan is also B category instructor.

Baby corner

Moana Hunter (nee Savage), formerly with Tamaki Heritage Experiences and DRTM, had her second child, a boy she and husband Darcy have named Rico Raey, on May 21. Base Hot Rock Backpacker Manager Russell Stokes and wife Janelle Vala (formerly Marketing Manager for Skyline Skyrides) also welcomed their second child this week, a son named Leo. Born on May 27, Leo weighed in at 8lb. Vanessa Beban, the Operations Manager at the Distinction Hotel, is due to have her first child on June 15 while Emily Pritchard,  Events Manager for Events and Venues, began four months of maternity leave yesterday, May 29.

Qualmark goes green

Details of new environmental criteria that Qualmark licence holders will have to meet as part of their accreditation assessment were unveiled by Tourism Minister Damien O’Connor at TRENZ earlier this week. Minimum environmental standards will apply to all those seeking Qualmark quality accreditation assessments from August 1 this year. However, all tourism operators and businesses will be able to apply for higher Enviro-Gold, Enviro-Silver and Enviro-Bronze ratings depending on their environmental performance. According to TNZ Chief Executive George Hickton, the new Qualmark enviro-ratings for tourism businesses will help New Zealand deliver on its 100% Pure New Zealand promise. “We know that international visitors from some markets, particularly the UK and Europe, are looking for more environmental options and this programme will help New Zealand’s tourism businesses meet those expectations.” 

Rotorua Sustainable Tourism Charter news

The Waste Minimisation (Solids) Bill puts in place provisions to reduce the amount of waste from households and businesses. A key provision of the bill is the adoption of product stewardship programmes, which embrace the ‘cradle to cradle’ (C2C) philosophy of creating products whose materials are perpetually circulated in closed loops, versus being recycled into inferior products and eventually put in landfill. Charter members Rainbow Springs, Whakarewarewa Village and Polynesian Spa are all using a C2C product in their choice of carpet – these businesses have chosen Interface as their carpet supplier. When carpets need replacing Interface returns the worn carpet to the factory for remanufacture into new carpet of equal quality to the original carpet. Learn more about the C2C principles in McDonough and Braungart’s book ‘Cradle to Cradle – Remaking the Way We Make Things’ available locally from McLeods Booksellers.

To find out more about joining the Rotorua Sustainable Tourism Charter visit www.sustainableNZ.com or call Gina George on 349 7289.

Tim for TIA

A former GM at Tourism Rotorua (now Destination Rotorua Tourism Marketing) has been appointed as the new Chief Executive of the Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA). Tim Cossar, currently Chief Executive of Positively Wellington Tourism, will take up the appointment within the next two months. TIA Chairman Norm Thompson said they are “delighted to appoint someone of Tim’s calibre and experience to lead the central organisation for New Zealand’s tourism industry. We are confident he has the skills needed to provide leadership to the industry as we collectively move to implement the ambitious goals set out in the New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2015.” In his current role since January 2002, Tim was instrumental in developing the award-winning ‘Have a Love Affair with Wellington’ campaign. Prior to that he was Chief Executive of the QEII National Trust and General Manager of Tourism Rotorua. He has served on numerous event strategy and industry steering groups, including chairing the Regional Tourism Organisations of New Zealand (RTONZ) and being a member of the New Zealand Tourism Strategy Ministerial Advisory Group.

Jim gone south

Formerly at the Novotel Rotorua before he moved onto the Novotel Tainui Hamilton and Novotel Ellerslie Auckland with Accor, Jim Moore has been appointed GM at the Novotel Lakeside Queenstown. He was most recently at Novotel Mecure Auckland.

Rotorua Lakes Safari 2008
3-day 4WD fundraising event for Ronald McDonald Family Retreat
May 30-June 2, at various off road Rotorua locations
www.geyserland4wd.co.nz

Blues Week Rotorua
8-day National Blues Music Festival
May 31-June 7, at various venues in central Rotorua
www.blues.co.nz/bop-blues

Targa Rally
250km of car racing action
June 7-8, cars on display at Village Green, Rotorua Lakefront
www.targa.co.nz

Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic versus Firebirds
Round 10 of ANZ Trans-Tasman Netball Championships
June 8, at the Energy Events Centre
www.netballmagic.co.nz

N-Duro Winter MTB Series Race #2
Classic old-style MTB races over one lap of challenging terrain
June 15, at Long Mile Road, Whakarewarewa Forest
www.n-duro.co.nz

Women’s Lifestyle Expo
Everything today’s woman needs under one roof
June 28-29, at the Energy Events Centre
www.expos.co.nz

For more information and a comprehensive list of events check out www.rotoruanz.com/events

We have collected your contact details. This information is collected to enable us to keep you up to date with tourism news pertinent to the Rotorua tourism market and keep you informed of the activities of the Destination Rotorua Tourism Marketing office. We will not disclose your contact details to third parties.

Jill Marshall
Communications Manager
Destination Rotorua Tourism Marketing
Private Bag 3007, Rotorua
Phone +64 7 349 7285
Fax +64 7 349 4133
jill@rotoruaNZ.com