Please distribute to all staff

October 19, 2010

In This Issue

• Singlespeed World Champs
• Kiwilink
• International Update
• Domestic Update
• Trade familiarisations
• C&I Update
• Online Update
• Visitor Activity Statistics
• Events - October 2010
• Dates for the Diary

Singlespeed World Champs

Cycle events are all go at this month with the Waka 100 held last weekend and the BMX North Island Titles and Mountain Bike Singlespeed World Champs being held over Labour Weekend. Bike lovers are enjoying top class racing action.

Saturday October 23, 2010

1 world...1 day...1 gear... 1 ring to rule them all... for the glory, the tattoo...and the beer... if there is only 1 event you do in 2010 make it this 1... Singlespeed mountain bikers from all round the planet gather in Rotorua.

DRTM has joined with other industry partners to produce a DVD featuring the Singlespeed World Champs event, mountain biking in general and other activities around Rotorua. The production in conjunction with Australian Mountain Bike magazine will see 70,000 copies of the DVD distributed via the cover of the magazine through Australia and New Zealand.

And more great media exposure for Rotorua this month, with the NEXT magazine crew in town. NEXT magazine’s 12 page swimwear feature was shot on location at Wai-O-Tapu against vibrant, steamy geothermal backgrounds. Thanks to the team at Wai-O-Tapu, for assisting with the production. Thanks also to the Regent of Rotorua for accommodating the crew.

Kiwilink Asia – Frontline and Product Manager Training

Kiwilink Asia – Frontline and Product Manager Training was attended by Craig Hammond and Don Gunn.

Organised by Tourism NZ this was part of the lead up to Kiwilink Asia and involved two training schedules with key frontline staff and product managers. The first was held in Bangkok and the second in Singapore. Interest from travel companies was very high in both sessions which was positive, with 80 attending Bangkok and 90 in the Singapore session. Training on Rotorua was provided to these attendees and Rotorua was joined by Auckland and Southern Lakes regions in Bangkok and also Canterbury in the Singapore session.

As well as the opportunity to train these frontline staff, market update briefings were also attended with presentations from TNZ. The overview on both markets seem quite positive, in particular it was noted that Jetstar will commence a daily Singapore – Auckland service on 17th March 2011 increasing this capacity by 303 seats per day. For further information and copies of these market updates please contact Craig.

International Update

And why wasn’t International Sales manager James Fitzgerald at Kiwilink? Well, he had his hands full here at home. Congratulations to Erin and James who celebrate the arrival of their second child (and a brother for Holly), Max Owen Fitzgerald…Welcome to the world.

James is currently on paternity leave for the birth of his second child. Max was born at 12:40pm on Monday the 11th of October.

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 adverts on websites Metservice, Wotzon, Sportzhub, View Auckland
• Print adverts include Sunday Star Times Summer Travel feature for family orientated holidays, Adventure Magazine & Mindfood magazine.
• E-newsletter inclusion targeting Torpedo7 database of 57,000 subscribers & events listings.

i-SITEs

Appointments completed with Waikato i-SITEs for Rotorua product & city updates. Frontline staff trained on Rotorua mindful of the fact the Karaprio Rowing World Championships are coming up with a lot of visitors in this region.

A satellite i-SITE will be set up in Karapiro during the Rowing Championships. During this visit a number of outcomes were achieved - staff who will be working on this stand were meet & trained on Rotorua, confirmed Rotorua Hot Deals to be sold on site & secured brochure space for Rotorua visitor guide to be available on-site.

Successful AA Travel Online Campaign

Our recent domestic online campaigns with AA Travel have provided some pleasing results. The Rotorua designed EDM which included Top 5 Weekend Escapes, hot deals & links to our website was viewed by 78,000 subscribers who have a high interest in domestic travel.

The competition aspects for Thrill me, Pamper me, Free me Rotorua weekend prizes generated over 15,000 entries with over 5,500 new names added to the Rotorua domestic database.

VFR Market & Local Campaign

Progress is going well. The flyer has been printed & delivered to APN ready for delivery to Rotorua homes as an insert in the Weekender on 29th October. Advert schedule for newspaper & radio confirmed with newspaper adverts commencing on 20th October. Local schools, kindergartens etc have had electronic versions delivered.

Domestic Spring E-newsletter

The spring edition of the Rotorua domestic e-newsletter has been sent to our database covering spring events, hot deals, new products and city updates.

Rotorua feature destination on Yahoo!Xtra

As part of our campaign with Yahoo!Xtra Rotorua has been the feature destination for the month. Rotorua ownership of this site during the 4 weeks promotion included home page feature & wallpaper skin plus 4 experience pages.

The following links are the experience pages submitted for this campaign:

• Experience Rotorua
• Rotorua Family Fun
• Rotorua Free Me
• Rotorua Thrill Me
• Rotorua Pamper Me

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

Steering Committee
The First Steering Committee meeting was held on Thursday 30th September. Minutes are available from this meeting for Convention Bureau financial members. Next meeting scheduled early November.

CINZ Conference Taupo 5-7 October
The 2010 CINZ annual Conference and AGM was held in the beautiful region of Lake Taupo. Taupo put on a the best weather as we all know the winter has been long, wet and dull so to be able to enjoy sunshine was a welcome.  As always it is  a great opportunity to get together with industry people who all share a mutual interest in the convention and incentive sector of tourism and networking was a high priority for many.
The line up of speakers this year was exceptional and came from Australia and New Zealand and the program was well thought out.
The MC was Greg Brown who is well known in the C&I industry as a professional MC, Keynote speaker and Entertainer, and once again did an awesome job.
 Jonar Nader was one of the key note speakers from Australia who was not only entertaining but also made a lot of sense when talking about management and leadership. Jonar spoke on ‘Fresh on Innovation’ and ‘Fresh on Engagement’. Take a ‘looky looky’ www.loosefriends.com
If you ever get a chance to meet David Grant Director DG3, don’t hesitate get to know him. David also came from Australia and spoke to us about events and how to get that wow factor from creating ‘happening’ events. David has worked extensively throughout Europe, Asia and USA for the past 15 years on eight Olympic Games and numerous other global events.
Another great speaker Eric Rush who we all know from his days as an All Black between 1992 and his test debut at the World Cup in South Africa in 1995. Eric gave us an insight into his life growing up in an isolated northland town before moving to south Auckland as a teenager. I don’t think there was one person in the room that didn’t find him very entertaining. Eric speaks with experience on leadership and teamwork and comes across as a very humble kiwi with passion.
Other key note speakers were  Rodney Dickens, Director Strategic Risk Analysis, Shane Vuletich, Director Covec and Rob Harley top Documentary maker.

Networking there were many opportunities to network during the conference but the afternoon of the Wednesday saw everyone slotting into groups. These included
Zing into Spring with Celia Laity at her beautiful Lakeview home. If you were lucky enough to meet Celia and enjoy her cooking you will understand when I say  it was a great afternoon of food and fun, and included coming away armed with some easy but amazing recipes which I am sure we have all practiced on our families.
Feel the Breeze on Lake Taupo with Chris Jolly outdoors, saw delegates cruising the waters of Lake Taupo taking in some of the beautiful sights while trawling for that ever elusive Rainbow Trout.
The Great Race, Corporate Challenge had different ones being pushed through their paces with some Golf cart driving, racing Segways, pedaling Mountain Bikes and pounding the pavements.
Lava L’Arte and Lovers of Wine, for the lovers of art and good wine, many enjoyed their time with a relaxed lunch at Lava Glass, followed by a trip to L’Arte Mosaic Sculpture Garden and Gallery, Zea You, Kura Art Gallery before concluding with wine tasting at Scenic Cellars.

For many who live in Rotorua, sometimes we don’t take the time to experience what our local regions have to offer. It has opened my eyes to these beautiful parts of NZ and the need to work closely with Taupo, Tauranga and Hawkes Bay. By being able to offer our clients some amazing experiences that will compliment what Rotorua has to offer.

Convention Bureau New Zealand Meeting
The CBNZ meeting was held in Taupo on the Tuesday afternoon of the CINZ Conference. Discussion points included;

• CBNZ Calendar update
• Australian Activity
• Research CAS & CDS
• CINZ
• ICCA, *CAP Scheme
• CINZ planner and advertising
• NZCB documents
• Regional Activities

* CAP Scheme – Conference Assistance Program
Operated for the benefit of all members, criteria at least 200 international delegates and support from the NZ governing body. Forms of assistance include financial feasibility, bid document, air travel, funding and promotion. Those who can bid are any NZ organization with an international affiliation, these could be universities, hospitals or similar.

New Zealand

Sales calls/product updates:
Auckland sales calls in early October resulted in three proposals and one confirmed familirisation in November.

Leads/proposals confirmed
March 2011 – 70pax (90% Australian, 10% NZ)
April 2011 – 300pax (NZ) 

Australia

Leads/proposals Confirmed:
March 2011, 100pax (Australia)
September 2012, 250pax (Australia)
June 2012, 250pax (Australia)

Up coming events

• Sales calls Brisbane week of 18 October
• MICENET Golf Tournament Sydney 29th October
• Sales calls Wellington week of 1 November
• Sales calls Auckland week of 8 November
• Corporate famil 17,18 November
• Australia famil 20-23 November
• NZ Domestic famils 24-26 November, 1-3 December
• PCO Conference Hobart 5-7 December

Visitor Activity Statistics

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

(Source:  Statistics NZ – External Migration)
International visitor arrivals to New Zealand for the month of August 2010 were up 4.3% over August 2009.  Arrivals were up from USA (up 2.7%), China (up 112.9%), Japan (up 41.0%), Germany (up 0.5%) and Korea (up 12.1%).  There were fewer arrivals from Australia (down 0.4%), UK (down 15.2%) and Canada (down 3.1%).

Rotorua Commercial Accommodation Monitor (CAM) – Aug 2010

(Source:  Statistics NZ – Commercial Accommodation Monitor)
Visitor nights spent in Rotorua commercial accommodation for the month of August 2010 were up 6.9% from August 2009 (versus no change nationally) - domestic visitor nights were down 0.9% (versus -1.1% nationally) and international visitor nights were up 21.0% (versus +1.6% nationally).  For the same period, sectors of Rotorua commercial accommodation that had increased growth in visitor nights were hotels (up 21.6%), motels (up 1.2%).  Sectors with decreased growth were holiday parks (down 6.5%) and backpackers (down 14.0%).    

Rotorua Attraction & Activities Monitor – Aug 2010

(Source:  APR Consultants  – Rotorua Attraction & Activities Monitor)
Visits to Rotorua Attraction & Activities Monitor participant businesses for the month of August 2010 were up 3.3% over August 2009 - domestic attraction/activity visits were down 8.6% and international attraction/activity visits were up 12.6%.

New Zealand Convention Delegate Survey (CDS) – YE June 2010

(Source:  Covec – Convention Delegate Survey)
The new Convention Delegate Survey (CDS) shows that multi-day convention delegates spent a total of $395 million (including GST) in the New Zealand economy in the year to June 2010.  This was made up of $202 million by domestic delegates, $112 million by international delegates and $81 million by local delegates.  International delegates spent an average of $424 per night in New Zealand (excluding international airfares), compared with $117 by all international visitors.  Domestic delegates also spent an average of $424 per night, compared with $118 by all domestic travelers. Click here to view the full Convention Delegate Survey report.

Upcoming Statistics NZ releases

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

Most of the New Zealand tourism monitors can be freely downloaded from 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

Events - October 2010

2010 BMX North Island Titles

Sat Oct 23, 2010 - Sun Oct 24, 2010
Rotorua BMX Club is the venue for this year's North Island Titles being held over Labour Weekend with top class racing 23rd and 24th October. This... More info

Kiwibikes Singlespeed World Champs

Sat Oct 23, 2010
1 world...1 day...1 gear... 1 ring to rule them all... for the glory, the tattoo...and the beer... if there is only 1 event you do in 2010 make it... More info

New Zealand Aria 2010

Fri Oct 29, 2010 - Sun Oct 31, 2010
The New Zealand Aria Trust welcomes you to the 64th Festival Weekend of Song to be held in the Rotorua Convention Centre The New Zealand Aria... More info

NZ Kiwis vs PNG

Sat Oct 30, 2010
2010 Rugby League Four-Nations The 2010 Four-Nations is the 2nd installment of the highly successful rugby league competition. With the ongoing... More info

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

29 October, MICENET Golf Tournament - Sydney

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