Please distribute to all staff |
November 15, 2008 |
Kia Ora !*FIRSTNAME*!,
 Planning, Planning, Planning is the only word to describe what’s happening in our office at the moment. With a full complement of staff and eagerness to try new things, we’ve got a few balls in the air currently.
TRENZ registrations are now open for 2009, so if you haven’t yet registered, register here.
Next week we run a domestic brainstorm of 15 Rotorua operators ranging from retail, dining to attractions and accommodation. This will be independently facilitated to see if we can glean any new and innovative ideas to market Rotorua and of course seeing what has worked in the past.
Today we ran a C & I Forum to update all involved in conferencing in Rotorua on what our thoughts were going forward, suggested training we may be able to undertake on incentive product and a review of our Roadshows to ensure they are always bigger and better. Thank you to those operators who are taking the time to join DRTM in these activities.
Don and Ruth met with Tourism NZ and their key partners in Australia to understand more about what that market is doing, the opportunities to work alongside Tourism NZ in a more strategic sense and an update from Airlines as to how they saw the market going forward. It appears that the Tasman will be the only area of airline growth and potentially still offering reasonably competitive airfares in the 12 months ahead.
Tourism NZ have been in Rotorua updating us on their predictions for the coming season and to summarise the 3 months looking forward:
Australia - Up 1 – 3%
China - Down 10 – 20%
Japan - Down 10 – 35%
USA - Down 15 – 20%
Canada - Up 5 – 10%
UK - Down 10%
Germany - Down 1 – 5%
Now more than ever we need to ensure that every visitor entering our city stays longer and spends more to help us ride out this blip in our tourism radar.
Keep in touch and ring us if there is anything at all you’d like to discuss.
Kind regards
Ruth Crampton
Assistant General Manager
DDI 349 7280
In This Issue |
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Wotif Promotion |
 Over the past two weeks DRTM ran a promotion with wotif.co.nz to promote immediate bookings to Rotorua. To tie in the TV commercial running nationally, our home page contained a Hot Hotel Deals button that clicked through to a wotif landing page highlighting Rotorua in Spring. Customers were then able to book hotels there and then.
In return Wotif put a “Spring in Rotorua” button on their home page, including Rotorua as Special of the week in their newsletter (distributed to 60,000 recipients) and included Rotorua in the Australian newsletter (600,000 recipients). |
Airport Update |
As you will all know, the ground breaking occurred at Rotorua Airport last week and we are now underway with the construction of our Runway extension to allow trans Tasman services by this time next year. With our current Rotorua activity we are positioning ourselves strongly with consumers via the trade in Australia.
The Airport have appointed a Brand Consutlant to design a regional brand incorporating not only Rotorua but the surrounding regions as well. This approach has many benefits – Airlines would prefer to see a regional approach to marketing to widen the catchment area, the ability to work more co-operatively with a larger pool of funds allows greater penetration into our target markets and of course a more compelling proposition to a visitor looking at a week long visit. Destination Rotorua is working closely with the Airport’s Brand Manager to ensure that we are involved in the planning of the marketing strategy when the time comes to launch trans Tasman services into the market.
Mayor Kevin Winters, pictured right, at the controls of the Fulton Hogan digger at the ground breaking ceremony.
Airline discussions have been undertaken and will be increased now that the Runway extension has commenced.
Read the most recent Airport Press Release here and we will keep regular updates on our website.
 Other Airline news is that Qantas have announced their withdrawal from Rotorua on the weekends, effective 24 January 2009. This is a reflection on the current economic climate as well as a need to retire aircraft early. The services will remain on a Monday to Friday. New 737-800 aircraft will be in operation by mid 2009 which allows for increased capacity on the existing services.
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Australian PR Appointment |
 Many of you will remember Hannah Stone who was our Media Advisor two years ago. She flew across the Ditch and has been working in media in Sydney. Well Hannah will be having a baby next January and we decided the timing was right to discuss PR opportunities with her.
Effective January 2009 Hannah Blake (as she is now known) will be working on contract with us to promote Rotorua through the media in Australia. The timing is especially important as we work towards Trans Tasman services.
Justine’s role remains unchanged and she will continue to work with Tourism NZ on an international media basis. Hannah is in place to feed stories to the relevant media in Australia, source new media opportunities and stay close to key media contacts in the market.
She is working with us now on finalising a PR plan before taking up her contact following the birth of her child sometime in the new year. |
C & I Update |
C&I Planner 2009
Specifications for those that have requested space in the 2009 C&I Planner will be sent out this week for your advertisements. Please ensure these are returned to Zero7 by the due date as with Christmas looming we need to keep to the timeline to ensure we have it back from the printers in early January.
Planner Launches in Wellington and Auckland 2009
The venue has been selected for the Wellington event on the 28th January 2009. A cocktail/networking function will be held in the Icon room at Te Papa from 3-7 pm.
Please send the bureau a list of your contacts for Wellington as we want to get a teaser out to them in early Dec so they put it in their 09 diary’s for the new year.
The bureau is working on the venue for the Auckland event on the 12th February. The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series regatta is on at that time, so we are looking at a venue by the viaduct as we want to capitalise on the buzz in the area. – If anyone has any suggestions for a venue, please email the bureau.
C&I Newsletter – Spring edition
The latest C&I Newsletter will be sent out on the 2nd of December 08, so if you would like anything to be included, please have it to the bureau by the 24th November so we can put it all together in time. |
Agent Familiarisations |
24 – 26 Oct Newmans/Flight Centre
26 – 27 Oct TNZ Mixed Asian Famil
26 Oct – TNZ and Cruise NZ Famil |
Media Update |
As mentioned in the last newsletter, we’re aiming to get plenty of editorial featured in NZ publications. Upcoming features include Explore and the Classic Escapes feature in the NZ Herald. Rotorua also featured in the recent Sunday Star Times summer travel tabloid.
Some members of the TNZ media team have been undertaking self-famils of Rotorua over the past month. We look forward to hosting more of them down here. Any operators wanting to be considered for these famils should register their interest with Justine. Phone (07) 349 7286 or email justine@rotoruaNZ.com
For any operators sending out press releases, please ensure Justine is on your distribution list. Justine can forward these releases to media on our database and add them to the news section on our website to maximise coverage.
Justine will be away from November 17 – December 12 (inclusive) so please direct any media inquiries during this time to Ruth. |
Visitor Activity Statistics |
New Zealand International Visitor Arrivals (IVA) – Sep 08
International visitor arrivals to New Zealand for the month of September 2008 were down 6.6% over September 2007. Arrivals were up from Germany (up 6.3%). There were fewer arrivals from Australia (down 2.6%), UK (down 5.3%), USA (down 11.6%), Japan (down 22.1%), Korea (down 30.7%), and China (down 33.2%).
Rotorua Commercial Accommodation Monitor (CAM) – Sep 08
Visitor arrivals to Rotorua commercial accommodation providers for the month of September 2008 were down 15.7% over September 2007. Domestic visitor nights were down 27.5% and international visitor nights were down 7.4%, resulting in a 19.1% decrease in visitor nights overall. Nationally, visitor nights spent in commercial accommodation for the same period decreased 5.2%.
Rotorua Attraction Monitor – Sep 08
Visits to Rotorua Attraction Monitor participant businesses for the month of September 2008 were down 23.7% over September 2007. For the same period domestic attraction visits were down 25.8% and international attraction visits were down 22.3%.
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 please contact Gina on DDI (07) 349 7289 or gina@rotoruaNZ.com |
Energy forum |
Business people who have concerns about the reliability of their energy supply, how much energy their business is consuming and how much it’s costing them should attend the free Business Energy Forum on November 19. Being held Rotorua District Council’s Council Chambers from 5pm to 7pm, the energy forum will hear from Unison Networks, the gas industry, Total Utilities Management Group and Rotorua’s energy champion Kevin McGrath, of Power Solutions. To register visit www.energychampion.co.nz or phone 350 0196. |
Events – December 2008 |
Xterra Trail Run National Championships
Qualifying Race for the World Trail Running Championships
Date: Sat Dec 6, 2008
Venue: Whakarewarewa Forest and Energy Events Centre
Rotorua Half Ironman
Swim 2km, Bike 90km, Run 21km
Date: Sat Dec 13, 2008
Venue: Blue Lake
Carols by Candlelight
Enjoyable celebration of Christmas for families and children
Date: Fri Dec 19, 2008
Venue: Kuirau Park
Mardi Gras
Family concert to celebrate the New Year
Date: Wed Dec 31, 2008
Venue: Rotorua Soundshell
For more information and to check out the latest events go to rotoruaNZ.com/events |
Dates for the diary |
Blue = Destination Rotorua Marketing participation
2008
12 - 14 November, Big Boys Toys consumer show, Auckland
15 - 16 November, Backpacker Expo, Sydney
22 - 23 November, Backpacker Expo, Brisbane
20 - 23 November, World Travel Mart, London
20 - 23 November, China International Travel Mart, Shanghai
4 December, ITOC Christmas Function, Auckland
8 - 11 December, International Luxury Travel Mart, France
2009
14 - 15 March, Consumer Travel Xpo, Sydney
21 - 22 March, Consumer Travel Xpo, Melbourne
27 March - 5 April, Kiwilink USA, Vancouver & Los Angeles
8 - 11 June, TRENZ, Auckland |
Recipient and sender details |
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 Marketing office. We will not disclose your contact details to third parties. |
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Ruth Crampton
Assistant General Manager
Destination Rotorua Marketing
Private Bag 3007, Rotorua
Phone +64 7 349 7280
Fax +64 7 349 4133
marketing@rotoruaNZ.com |
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