For the first time ever, TRENZ will be located in New Zealand’s strongest visitor region, showcasing the Southern Lakes. It will take place at the Queenstown Events Centre, 22-25 May 2011.

The new location is sure to be a powerful incentive for international travel and tourism buyers and media to make the time to travel to New Zealand for TRENZ 2011, Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA) Chief Executive Tim Cossar says.

TIA manages TRENZ, which brings together selected New Zealand tourism operators (Exhibitors) with invited international travel and tourism buyers, and media. The event directly helps to grow New Zealand’s $9.5 billion international tourism industry. In 2011, the theme is “Book New Zealand”.

Southern Lakes chairman Dave Hawkey says hosting TRENZ 2011 is a significant opportunity for the region and its tourism operators.

“Hosting TRENZ 2011 will showcase the Southern Lakes region to influential tourism industry leaders and media, and provide a host of Buyers and Exhibitors the opportunity to experience this diverse and spectacular part of New Zealand. The three regions of Lake Wanaka, Queenstown and Fiordland combine to offer some of the most memorable landscapes and experiences New Zealand has to offer. This is the first time TRENZ has been held here in the Southern Lakes and we look forward to working with TIA in presenting another successful TRENZ to the world.”

The new location is bringing a host of other new features to New Zealand’s largest international tourism trade event.

TRENZ has traditionally been held in Auckland, Christchurch or Rotorua as these were the only centres with infrastructure to host such a big event which involves more than 1200 people. Moving to Queenstown offers fantastic new opportunities, Mr Cossar says.

“We want Buyers, Media and the New Zealand Exhibitors to experience the best of the Southern Lakes region. We’ve allocated a half day for delegates to get out and experience some of the region’s iconic tourism attractions for themselves. Strong famil programmes will help Buyers and Media get a real sense of the experiences available in the Southern Lakes,” Mr Cossar says.

“We’re also changing the format of some of the traditional TRENZ networking functions to allow delegates more time to enjoy some of the great things the region has to offer. This will provide more opportunities for New Zealand tourism operators to invite our international delegates out for drinks or dinner, extending their opportunities for doing business during the event.”

While the Queenstown Events Centre is the largest capacity venue in Queenstown, it does not have the same floor space as traditional TRENZ venues so Exhibitor booth sizes will be limited. Attendance fees for Exhibitors have been adjusted to reflect this.

Delegates will have the opportunity to schedule 51 fifteen minute business meetings during the three core days of TRENZ 2011. Unlike previous years, the event will begin on a Sunday and finish on a Wednesday. This will enhance the potential for international delegates to visit other areas of New Zealand before and after TRENZ.

“We have really tried to make some changes for TRENZ 2011. It will certainly be different to what delegates have experienced in the past,” Mr Cossar says.

Exhibitor applications for TRENZ 2011 will open on Thursday 25 November.

TRENZ is supported by Tourism New Zealand, Air New Zealand, Qantas, host region Southern Lakes and other industry partners.

2011 New Zealand Inbound Tourism Conference

The 2011 New Zealand Inbound Tourism Conference will be held 15-17 August 2011 at the Sebel Trinity Wharf in Tauranga. Recognised as New Zealand’s largest annual tourism conference, it attracts up to 250 tourism leaders from New Zealand and overseas.

Delegates include tour operators who collectively handle most of New Zealand’s packaged and group holiday visitor arrivals, making the conference a valuable opportunity to showcase the host region to the tourism industry.

Bay of Plenty won the right to host the 2011 New Zealand Inbound Tourism Conference from strong competition at the 2010 conference in Marlborough in August. The conference is organised by ITOC and Chief Executive Paul Yeo says he is working closely with Tourism Bay of Plenty to put together an exciting programme for delegates.

“I know many are looking forward to exploring the region both before and after the conference, and I’m confident it will give the region a significant boost to their international tourism marketing.”

The main plenary conference sessions will be hosted at the Sebel Trinity Wharf hotel. Venues for the Welcome Function and gala awards event, at which the ITOC Operator of the Year award is presented, will be announced next month.

While the conference remains the major annual event for ITOC members, who comprise inbound tour operators as well as national and regional product suppliers, it is also open to non-members from the wider tourism industry.

Based on feedback from the previous conference there will be an added focus on providing additional business to business marketing opportunities for ITOC delegate members. A highlight of the conference is the Market Updates provided by Tourism New Zealand who have once again committed to being involved.

The event will also celebrate ITOC’s 40^th anniversary.

Registrations for the conference will open in mid-2011 but accommodation bookings are available at a number of participating hotels in both Tauranga and Mount Maunganui. Visit www.itoc.org.nz for booking details, a preliminary programme and general information on the conference.

New Zealand Inbound Tourism Symposium

Registrations open today for ITOC’s annual New Zealand Inbound Tourism Symposium, to be held at the Rendezvous Hotel, Auckland, at 3pm on 8 December 2010. It will be followed by a social networking event at the Voyager National Maritime Museum.

“This event has been held each December in Auckland for many years and under several guises. This year we have given it a new name, the New Zealand Inbound Tourism Symposium, to give it a clearer definition and business focus,” Mr Yeo says.

The Symposium will include a number of guest speakers and panel discussions on the state of the tourism industry.

Full details and registration information are available at www.itoc.org.nz Non-ITOC members are also welcome to attend.

For those of us lucky enough to get the chance to escape the New Zealand winter by heading to the sun, surf and serenity of the many South Pacific island destinations, the mere act of being there is heaven on earth. Our pale bodies getting some much needed Vitamin D, those Pina Coladas that just beg to be ordered (because you can) and the reading of that now-famous Steig Larsson trilogy (again, because you can) being all par for the course.

I had yet to visit Samoa however many of my friends had, so I figured it was time to get over there and get a feel for it first hand. Despite the relaxation and much needed time out, I was also there to scope Samoa out from a work perspective as well – somewhere that I could potentially send clients both on their way to, and coming from, their Kiwi Does It New Zealand itinerary. When planning these top-end trips, I am often asked for stopover recommendations, especially with those honeymoon folk desperately wanting some down time…

We looked into accommodation at the top end (our target market) and found Sinalei on the southern coast of Upolu and Le Lagoto on the island of Savaii. Both of these resorts are in the luxury category with Sinalei having just reopened after being completely wiped out by Mother Nature and her tsunami in 2009.

Having trawled the net and decided on Samoa, the introduction emails were sent, the flights were booked and the commitment made – and then the countdown was on.

The experience came around quickly and finished with the same speed and so it was that we returned from the beautiful islands of Samoa after only a mere 5 days of bliss. It was without doubt a stunning destination to visit. Yes, I did get burnt and yes, I did order a Pina Colada however I have already read the trilogy so I opted for something slightly more obscure – Paul Tordays ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’ (and I highly recommend it).

Without harping on about it, the damage post tsunami was not hugely visible where we went. However, the graves in the front yards of nearly every home were testament to the depth of tragedy that was. The smiles were still given freely, the waving was clearly still a custom and the timeframe upon which we worked was clearly still relaxed. As far as I was concerned, it was a great experience.

However (and I will just remind you quickly) the purpose of my visit was to get a feel for the place from my clients’ perspective. Is it somewhere with the level of accommodation and service required for my clientele and do the prices reflect this?

To be honest, I think there would need to be some serious expectation-setting in order for their experience to be a smooth one. There are a couple of reasons I say this and I will start with the most obvious…

As a rule, my travellers would be arriving from either the continental US or on the back end of the super-lodge experience around New Zealand – their expectations will be pretty high. As a result, pricing is a sensitive issue. It’s one of those realities that everyone is conscious of no matter where you work or what you do for a crust. Money is arguably needed for almost everything and we all like to get more ‘bang’ for our buck, especially post GFM (that’s like, Global Financial Melt-down for you cyber-virgins).

With regards to Samoa, the need to get heads on pillows has understandably been the first and foremost priority however with that comes the visitor expectation. To be honest, at around USD500 per night, the Beachside Fales (albethem brand new) were not up to scratch. They lacked basic amenities such as any hint of a mini-bar, TV or sound system and, while I am most definitely not one to stay in the room watching TV, my clients may be. The photos from the old website have been used and as amazing as it looked, gone was the outdoor shower, there was no beachside hammock in sight and the rooms are now a completely different setup. Come on people, update the website – it’s only fair.

Secondly, service. Despite loving the culture and resonating with it on a personal level, I felt that the relaxed nature (or lack of training?) of the Samoan people ultimately hindered necessities at these resorts such as service and upkeep. Our showerhead hit nothing but the wall it was attached to, the roof of our bathroom was a mildew-grey (the rest was white, the compendium stated a mini-bar service was available however when asked it wasn’t, and there was clearly no communication around our check out, as we were charged full rates when I had been dealing with management for over 6 weeks. Blank stares and simple answers were common though, but all with that Samoan smile so its hard to get worked up over anything.

I really can understand it on a certain level and I have no doubt that it is a double-edged sword. On the one hand you have staff that are local villagers and walk down the beach to work – how cool is that? On the other, you have a luxury resort offering a luxury product, at luxury prices, with below luxury attention to detail. Again, the small things become large when you are charged through the nose for them.

One of the key issues that most operators face is the expectation of their travelling clientele and the managing of them. I feel the most pivotal factor in this process is knowledge of the product you are selling. By knowing, I don’t just mean of the website (which may or may not be current), the brochure or the location of the country. I guess the word ‘knowing’ could be replaced with ‘experiencing’ – and it has to be first hand.

Despite our initial contact with the resort being somewhat disorganised, there were just those little things that were missing – for want of a better word, the ‘polish.’ For those frequent top-end travellers among us you will know what I mean…

In order to marry together what I experienced personally with what I expect for my clients, perhaps some in-depth training angled towards the luxury end of the market would be a good start. There is obviously some training that goes on but perhaps more experienced people could get in there and call the shots. That way, the locals would know what to polish, the clients would be charged the right amount and they would recommend it to all and sundry.

Please don’t get me wrong Samoa, I still think you are beautiful. I feel like I have been hard on you, but I had my agent hat on. Take that off and replace it with my traveller hat and I loved you. I loved your lush, fruit-scented native forests. I loved your white-toothed, cheeky grins from children and adults alike. I loved your completely ‘pimped out’ public buses with flames down the sides that were overflowing and I loved your water – oh the crystal clear, brimming-with-electric-coloured-fish water you have…

Samoa, I’ll come back to you and this time I’ll have my surfboard.

With the future looking bright for their outbound travel market to continually grow it makes sense for New Zealand tourism organisations to develop strategies to target the China travel market to compliment efforts already in progress by the likes of Tourism New Zealand, Air New Zealand and the Shanghai World Expo.

So what are the key ways to do this?  It really depends on the resources and size of your organisation.  At present over 71% of travellers from China come as part of a pre-arranged group tour (source: Tourism New Zealand) rather than as FIT so forming relationships with key inbound tour operators and group tours is a logical first step.  The FIT market however is growing so an online strategy is also important, and The Economist has identified social media as another key way.

Here are some further links to articles of interest regarding the Chinese tourism market and China Online Travel

China Travel Trends

Ruder Finn Asia China Travel and Tourism Market Newsletter

Role of Social Networking in Chinese Online Travel Market

Tourism New Zealand – Changes Set to Benefit Chinese Group Tour Market

Tourism New Zealand – ADS Programme (China Monitoring Unit)

Tourism New Zealand – Crossing the Digital Divide in China

TNOOZ: Most Popular Travel Websites In Hong Kong June 2010

Nielsen China Outbound Travel Monitor 2009 (have to purchase the full report)

If you have any tips or success stories about dealing with the Chinese market let us know.

1) Get to know your product. This means doing the legwork, and getting out there.

Or you can cheat and go to TRENZ, but you’re never going to know for sure if the brochures they’re showing you are simply putting their product in the best light, or if they’re for real.

If you’ve visited a product provider, and can report from first hand experience that their “Garden Suite” actually looks over someone else’s garden, whereas their “Lake View Suites” do get views of the lake, but across someone else’s roof, you’re in a better position to be able to manage a client’s expectations.

2) Get to know your suppliers. Again, it’s the small things that count, and a smiling face upon guest arrival is most probably worth more the comfortableness of the bed in terms of visitor enjoyment, because that smile will set the tone for their entire time with that provider. How do you know your supplier’s going to welcome your client with a smile? You’ve got to get out there and meet them.

3) Get to know your client. This is key -  a comprehensive brief from them about their likes and dislikes, preferences and tastes, is non-negotiable. Get on the phone to them, at least twice, preferably a whole lot more times. Arranging for them to do a challenging 7-hour Tongariro Crossing when they’re built like a retired gridiron linebacker and usually only manage half hour walks around the local pond, is NOT going to score you points on their feedback form.

4) Which brings me to the penultimate point – feedback. Always ask your client for comprehensive feedback about your services, your suppliers’ services, and about their travel experience as a whole. This is invaluable in helping you to get better at what you do -  if you can forward that feedback on to your suppliers, any provider worth their salt will appreciate constructive commentary.

5) CHARGE FOR YOUR SERVICES. This could spawn another article in itself, and I’d welcome feedback from anyone and everyone on this. We’ve wasted so much time writing itineraries for people, never to hear from them again, that we gave up. Now, we spend 15-20 minutes doing an overview itinerary, which gives them an outline of where we’d recommend they visit (geographic place names), what they should be getting up to whilst there (activities), and how much time at each place. We also offer them to chance to request references from past clients.

If they like the overall timeline, route map, and pace, then before we go ANY FURTHER, we take up an front “good faith” deposit by credit card. This shows us they mean business – if we then go ahead and spend another 2 hours writing a fully fleshed out itinerary including accommodation and activity operator recommendations, the chances are they’ll book through us. If you DON’T charge them an upfront fee, then there’s every chance they’ll simply take your itinerary and book it all directly themselves. If they do this after paying your “good faith” deposit, then at least you’ll have made a couple of dollars for your 2 hours work.

If anyone would like a recommendation for a superb itinerary creation software product, get in touch.

Well yes it’s not too hard – once you understand how things work. And more importantly what the ground rules are. Why? Because in the international market place there can be many parties involved in the transaction before the booking comes to your business.  Each one invests time and money in advertising and marketing NZ, your region and (potentially) your own product.  So unsurprisingly they all want their cut or ‘commission’ for doing so.

Before you go any further therefore you will need to understand that in return for the (hopefully) higher volume and consistency of business you will receive through these sources – your product must be priced in order to be able to offer around 20-25% commission and this must be based on your published rack rate.

The distribution chain

So what we have been talking about above is commonly referred to as the distribution chain (or distribution system). Below is a diagram that helps to identify who these people might be. You will find that there are many variations of this particularly between different markets, however the most common one works like this.

Diagram by New Zealand Tourism Industry Association www.tianz.org.nz

So where to start?

Presumably you have a product that is already established for the NZ market. This is a good place to start from as you should already have good sales materials – brochures, website, images etc.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you already know which international markets you wish to target?
• Do you understand the requirements of travelers from those markets?
• Do you know which inbound operators work in those markets?
• Do you know what activities your local RTO is involved in which relates to those markets?

If you are unsure of the answers to any of these questions then the best place for you to start is by setting up a meeting with your local Regional Tourism Organisaton (RTO). They will be able to offer advice on taking your product to market. They may also be able to offer opportunities to participate or dovetail into their activities.  They will already have many of the important contacts that you need to get started, so boost your chances of success and make a bee line for them now!

Inbound Operators

Another easy way to get started is by working through New Zealand based IBO’s. They know and understand the markets in which they specialise intimately.  They have established contacts and relationships and could help you to access your target markets if you can encourage them to sell your product.

How to go about this:

• Introduce your product to them by means of a sales call or by participating in a regional trade update if your RTO offers this (many regions do this on an annual basis)
• Prepare and distribute information on your product and rates (this will need to be at least 2 years out for most inbounds)
• Familiarise yourself with their website www.itoc.org.nz – it contains a lot of information on how their work with their members as well as detailed information on individual members and the markets that they specialise in.
• Be aware that not all IBO’s pay to become members of ITOC, so gathering these contacts will be an ongoing process.

Tourism New Zealand (TNZ)

Visit http://www.tourismnewzealand.com/marketing-toolbox

This is Tourism New Zealand’s trade website which contains a huge amount of useful information. The site is continually updated and in particular offers information on how to get started in international markets as well as detailed information on key markets

Be sure to register your product on TNZ’s trade site http://www.register.nztb.co.nz/ This is regularly used by the international trade.

There are many more things that you can do to reach international markets – too many to mention in this blog so talk to your RTO, talk to other local tourism operators, get involved in familiarisation visits, host international visiting media, stay current and network!

Having your own website is a great start, but hoping the high spending European travellers will find it just through search engines is not always easy to achieve.  So a key way to get your website seen online by the overseas markets is to list on international travel websites.

International Travel Websites

You may start off by identifying your target markets and research what international travel websites are popular by the population there.   For a free and easy source for up to date global traffic rankings check out the  Alexa.com Travel website category.  PhocusWright also provides online travel research (at a cost) for markets worldwide which can be an excellent detailed source if you have the funds to buy the research and wish to have a thorough understanding of the online travel market for a particular country or region.

Below are examples of some of the key travel and booking websites that can provide you with global exposure to get you started. With many of the global booking websites you will find your booking information is fed through to a number of affiliate websites as additional benefit.  All of these sites below are free to list on and for the booking sites they take a commission (usually 10%).

• NewZealand.com: Tourism New Zealand promote their website to all key markets for New Zealand, and being free to list on for any type of tourism provider it’s a no brainer to be on there.  It still surprises me when I find an operator who isn’t on there!  If you aren’t then go ahead and register for free now.
• Expedia (also Venere) – One of the top travel booking websites worldwide for accommodation, activities, flights and car rental.
• Travelocity – Similar to Expedia, Travelocity has a comprehensive product range and global exposure.
• Wotif – An important site for Australian accommodationbookings and very much Australasian focused, Wotif also lists relevant operators on their partner sites Lastminute.com.au, Travel.com.au, AsiaWebDirect.com and LateStays.com.
• Tripadvisor – The major travel review site that also shows rates and connects through to bookings if you are listed on one of their affiliate booking sites.

Note: When listing on a number of instant booking websites as identified above it’s beneficial to use a Channel Manager that automates updates of your pricing and availability information across all websites to save time and importantly avoid overbookings.

Google AdWords

Another way to get exposure in offshore markets is through Google using their Adwords product.  You can set your own budget and select which countries and even what regions within countries you can target.  This article on Business Blogs will give you “Tips to get the Best out of Google Adwords“.  If targeting foreign markets it would be a good idea to get advice from someone who knows the language and customs to help with writing the ads and identifying terms for the keyword searches used to trigger your google ads.

Using these basic strategies above will give you an ongoing way to have online exposure globally, and Part 2 for this article by Robyn Bolton focuses on traditional distribution strategies to target international markets.

We all want to see the obvious, Rotorua and the Geysers, Queenstown in all her majesty, the Eiffel Tower, the Coliseum but what really makes a visit to a country great are those peeks of how a country actually lives day to day.  It’s really important to show country warts and all… the top streets and the tired streets.   Don’t always take the main roads, B roads can be a fantastic way to understand how people actually live and often an opportunity to actually meet the locals.

My best memory of Greece was getting a little bit lost and ending up in  a little village in the mountains… going to the one little bar/shop/restaurant in the town and spending an afternoon drinking very strong Greek coffee and having very stilted conversations with three old chaps who obviously spent their days, smoking, drinking coffee or whatever!  (While their wives were cleaning house and doing the little gardens around their houses) Every time I smell freshly brewed coffee I am back in that village on that hot hot day…. that what great memories and great trips are made of.

You know, New Zealand has so much more to offer than just beautiful scenery, I realise after a year travelling around Europe that we are really very very nice people.  On the whole we are friendly and very hospitable and we are pretty proud of our country.  There is nothing nicer, if you are on tour, than being taken off the main highway and being set free to walk along a beach and have the time to have a coffee at a cafe that is not a tourist shop.  We have lots of places we can share, Narrow Neck Beach, Takapuna Beach, on the way up North a detour to Manly Beach… the opportunities are endless.

Too often we see those coaches pulled up in front of large tourist -aimed shops  (excuse used that they have the best toilets!) selling often overpriced items that are made in some offshore country to enable a bit more money to be made out of the traveller via commissions.   If you are going to include shopping stops, there are plenty of out of the way authentic shops that can be used, selling good quality NZ made goods that we can be proud to send out of our country.

It won’t cost a tour operator much, if anything, to make these little deviations… maybe an extra half an hour added to the travelling day and a few dollars extra in gas…which will be recouped, I believe, by referral business, the best business you can get.