Please distribute to all staff

August 31, 2010

In This Issue

• International Update
• Domestic Update
• Trade familiarisations
• C&I Update
• Visitor Activity Statistics
• Get Smart
• Events - September 2010
• Dates for the Diary

International Update

Opportunity in China

Are you interested in targeting the Semi FIT Chinese Tourist.  Tourism New Zealand is undertaking a trade training event in China in  November and is calling for industry participation. If you want to know more you can download the prospectus  from the following link:
http://www.tourismnewzealand.com/events/upcoming-events/china-semi-fit-training-2010

Trade Famils

• Flight Centre - 15 Agents - Melbourne
• Harvey World Travel - 9 Agents - Sydney
• STA - 5 Agents - Sydney
• Flight Centre - 22 Agents - Sydney
• Flight Centre - 14 Agents - Melbourne
• Infinity holidays - 16 Agents - Sydney
• ANZCRO - 5 Agents - Brisbane
• Japanese IBO’s - 10 Agents - Auckland

Domestic Update

Domestic Update: For any clarification of any of the information in this section please contact craig@rotoruanz.com

Media Schedule

Domestic advertising of Rotorua has been promoted through the following online and print  publications:

• Banner ads on websites Wotzon, View Auckland, NZ Herald and Stuff.
• EDM banner adverts have been included in View Auckland, Wotzon and NZ House and Garden databases.
• NZ Life & Leisure, Mindfood print adverts plus editorial features within Adventure Magazine and UNO Central.

AA Travel 

Part of our domestic campaign with AA Travel has been launched which has included:

• Rotorua as featured prize promotion within AA Rewards August edition EDM sent to 280,000 database.
• Rotorua themed solus EDM covering weekend escapes/holiday ideas, hot deals and a vote to win Thrill me, Pamper me or Free me weekend prize promotion. Timed release prior to September school holidays. Database reached will include 160,000 New Zealanders with a high propensity to travel domestically.

Rotorua What’s On

Work on the new Rotorua What's On visitor guide is almost complete currently in the proofing stage. This edition is due to be released on 9th September.

RWC 2011 – One Year To Go!

A video clip was recorded as part of Rotorua’s submission for the RWC2011 ‘One Year to go’ campaign. Involved a group of 8 traditionally attired Maori performers and 23 year 5/6 students from Owhata Primary School wearing their school colours of blue and yellow (the BOP rugby colours). The filming starts the eerie sound of the putatara (shell horn) and then the group shouts “Kia Ora One Year To Go”, finishing with the whole punching the air celebration.

Domestic E-newsletter 

The spring edition of the Rotorua domestic e-newsletter is due to go out before the end of September. If you have any significant updates or news you would like communicated within this please e-mail Craig before 15th September.

VFR Market & Local Campaign 

Expressions of interest from Rotorua based operators are being invited for a Rotorua Locals Week promotion to be held from the 1st-7th November. The aim is to wrap up the current random approach to locals days into a week long promotion and create a unified industry promotion with a real buzz around the city. DRTM will assist with a marketing campaign to raise awareness throughout the city and encourage locals to get out and experience these attractions and activities. With the goal of becoming an annual event the timing is aimed during shoulder season and close to the VFR market peak in the summer holidays.

If you are interested in being involved please contact Craig. The deadline for ‘opt in’ is 1st September.

C&I Update

C&I Update: For any clarification of any of the information in this section please contact
denise@rotoruanz.com

Desk of the Bureau

The Convention Bureau has successfully introduced a Conference and Incentive membership. The new membership was introduced from 1st July and will be in place for a twelve month period at which time the success of it will be reviewed. The membership is to help build a solid platform for C& I within New Zealand and Australia. The members consisting of a selection of Platinum, Gold and Silver will have the opportunity to work closer with the Bureau both in consultation and communication out into the market. Convention Bureaus in other major MICE destinations have successfully introduced memberships and for Rotorua to move forward by increasing awareness and business opportunities it was highlighted by the Industry and DRTM the best way forward. The next step is to form a steering committee this will be rolled out in the next couple of weeks. If you fit the MICE market and would like more information please contact Denise by email denise@rotoruaNZ.com

Another piece of exciting news; finally we are about to embark on updating and giving the conference and incentive place on our website a total new look. Our first objective is to go out to Event organizers with a small survey for feedback this will just help to make sure that what we plan to do is what the client is looking for. I look forward to seeing the finished result and we will be coming out to operators for content that is relevant to our targeted audience.

Meetings 2010

This year Meetings 2010 was a huge success for the region, it started off with a small group of Chinese Incentive buyers visiting Rotorua for a period of 24 hours. Not quiet long enough, but they did manage to get and see a good range of product. The clients also had the opportunity to meet and ask questions during the Meetings Trade show. 

Over the two days the bureau had two full appointment streams as well as additional meetings with potential clients who had been unable to get appointments during the request period.

Conference Business

The Bureau still remains busy quoting and encouraging clients to conference in our city. 2010 has seen peaks and troughs but there are a number of quotes that are coming through for 2011, 2012 and into 2013. These are looking strong with business starting to confirm once again. We are still encouraging business around the Rugby World Cup period as there is certainly room for conference business. Some clients have been afraid to ask the question for fear of the costs however outside of the heavily booked days, operators are keen to have the conference business.

There have been a number of new developments which will appeal to conference and incentive groups. They include the recent opening of the Regent of Rotorua boutique hotel, the Raceline karting track at Off Road NZ and a recent refurbishment of hotel rooms at the historic Princes Gate Hotel.

Familiarisations

We have just completed a NZ familiarisation which included a selection of event and conference organizers from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, with great feedback.

The group arrived into Rotorua on the Wednesday evening and departed early afternoon on the Friday, they got to meet and see a variety of operators which included hotels, dining venues and activities. With the Rugby World Cup only 12 months away we had several on the famil that were here to check hotels  and look at activities that will work for their clients. From the group of 16 clients at least 90% were here to sign business and we would expect confirmation coming through over the next few months.

Australia

Once again a very busy time across the Tasman with positive spin offs from the air link with Sydney. There is increased interest out of this market for Rotorua and a number of quotes have been proposed for 2011, 2012 and 2013. The interest is there and our job is to open as many doors as we can for the industry. In July we participated in a trade show in Sydney called ABBE this once again generated a number of leads and proposals. Our aim is still to be at everything (including trade shows, functions, events) that we possibly can. We are still the new ones in the Australian arena which is great as it is giving the Australian buyer something new to consider. Someone just recently said to me that what they loved about Rotorua was it was a real and true look at NZ all wrapped up in a wonderful small city, I thought this is very true and we should never loose sight of what we are about.

Up coming events

• MICENET Golf tournament –Sydney Friday 29th October
• CINZ Conference – Taupo 5-7 October
• Familiarisations October and November dates tbc NZ and Australia
• PCO Conference 5 -7 December - Hobart

Visitor Activity Statistics

New Zealand Tourism Industry Monitor – August 2010

(Source:  Covec – Tourism Industry Monitor)
Results from the NZ Tourism Industry Monitor indicate New Zealand tourism businesses expect demand to be static and profitability to increase by 0.4% for the three months commencing 1 August 2010 over the same period of the previous year.  40% of respondents have a positive outlook of demand increasing over this period, while 24% have a neutral outlook and 36% a negative outlook.  The Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Central Plateau regional outlook for growth in demand is in the range of -2% to +3%.

International Visitor Arrivals (IVA) to New Zealand – July 2010

(Source:  Statistics NZ – External Migration)
International visitor arrivals to New Zealand for the month of July 2010 were up 3.8% over July 2009.  Arrivals were up from Australia (up 1.7%), China (up 94.2%), Japan (up 73.9%) and Korea (up 15.5%).  There were fewer arrivals from UK (down 19.8%), USA (down 13.1%), Germany (down 0.5%) and Canada (down 4.0%).   

Rotorua Commercial Accommodation Monitor (CAM) – June 2010

Source:  Statistics NZ - Commercial Accommodation Monitor)
Visitor nights spent in Rotorua commercial accommodation for the month of June 2010 were up 17.3% over June 2009 (versus +7.0% nationally) - domestic visitor nights were up 14.6% (versus +8.9% nationally) and international visitor nights were up 21.6% (versus +3.6% nationally).  For the same period, sectors of Rotorua commercial accommodation that had positive growth were the hotel sector (up 24.5%), the motel sector (up 12.2%) and the holiday park sector (up 29.7%).  The only sector with negative growth was the backpacker sector (down 4.1%).

Rotorua Attraction & Activities Monitor – June 2010

(Source:  APR Consultants  – Rotorua Attraction & Activities Monitor)
Visits to Rotorua Attraction & Activities Monitor participant businesses for the month of June 2010 were up 16.6% over June 2009 - domestic attraction/activity visits were up 22.3% and international attraction/activity visits were up 12.3%.

Upcoming Statistics NZ releases

Commercial Accommodation Monitor: July 2010 will be released 10 September 2010
International Visitor Arrivals to NZ: August 2010 will be released 21 September 2010

Most of the New Zealand tourism monitors can be freely downloaded from www.tourismresearch.govt.nz

For more information about Rotorua visitor statistics or to subscribe to any of the Rotorua specific tourism monitors please contact Gina on (07) 349 7289 or gina@rotoruaNZ.com

Get Smart

Leap into spring with some fresh insights and fresh thinking.  Use the get-smart 'Express Accommodation' survey to get an in-depth look at your guests, and your business from their point of view ... How did your guests find you and why did they choose you? What did they think of your reception? Your rooms? Your room service? Your staff? How likely is it they'll come back? What can you do to increase the chances that they will? Compare your results with a benchmark made up of all the businesses in your sector and track changes in your results over time.  Click here to find out about a special 3-month subscription to the 'Express Accommodation' survey - offer ends 10 September 2010.  Based in Wellington, New Zealand, get-smart is a subsidiary of Angus & Associates, a leading provider of business planning and research services for New Zealand tourism and related industries. 

Events - September 2010

For more information or to check out the latest events, go to rotoruaNZ.com/events

Dates for the diary

Blue = Destination Rotorua Marketing participation

2010

8 September, PAICE Plus Expo – Sydney

Friday 29th October, MICENET Golf Tournament - Sydney

5-7 October, CINZ Conference - Taupo

13-17 October, Kiwilink Asia - Singapore

October and November (TBC), Familiarisations - NZ and Australia

5-7 December, PCO Conference – Hobart

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.

David Whorwood
Marketing Manager
Destination Rotorua Marketing
Private Bag 3007, Rotorua
Phone +64 7 349 7280
Fax +64 7 349 4133
marketing@rotoruaNZ.com