Bay of Islands tourism businesses are tripling their advertising spend to attract Kiwi visitors to the area as competition for domestic travellers heats up.
Bay of Islands tourism businesses are tripling their advertising spend to attract Kiwi visitors to the area as competition for domestic travellers heats up.
Bay of Islands tourism businesses plan to triple their advertising spend to $750,000 in the crucial Auckland market as competition heats up for the domestic traveller's dollar.
Increased promotion was one of the outcomes of a meeting at Russell's Duke of Marlborough aiming to chart a way through the Covid-19 crisis for hard-hit Northland tourism businesses.
The roughly 200 people who attended included business owners from Warkworth to Cape Reinga, Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis, central and local government officials and even ex-All Blacks coach Sir Graham Henry.
About 200 people took part in a tourism industry meeting at the Duke of Marlborough in Russell to discuss a way through the Covid crisis. Photo / Stephen Western
Duke co-owner Riki Kinnaird said the Bay of Islands Marketing Group usually spent $250,000 a year promoting the area in Auckland, but this year the group would have to ''double down'' on its efforts or risk being pushed to the back of the queue as every region in the country sought to attract domestic tourists.
The campaign, which had included a popular Air New Zealand in-flight safety video, had been a great success over the past eight years but would have to be ramped up.
So far group members had pledged $410,000 with the campaign due to kick off in earnest before the end of the month, Kinnaird said.
Marketing group chairman Charles Parker said about 15 Bay businesses belonged to the group.
Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis speaks at an industry get-together in Russell. Photo / Stephen Western
The cross-platform campaign would include social media, partnerships with print media, radio ads, billboards and possibly an ''influence ambassador'' programme if a suitable person could be found.
Kinnaird said the other purpose of the meeting was to give Northlanders in the tourism industry a chance to get together for the first time since lockdown and meet those in government agencies and organisations such as Northland Inc, Foundation North and the Chamber of Commerce who were working on their behalf.
Taiamai Tours owner Hone Mihaka closes the tourism industry get-together in Russell. Photo / Stephen Western
It was also a chance for struggling business owners to ''share their war stories'', he said.
''We wanted to let people know they're not alone. We're all in the same storm, just in different boats.''
Davis explained what the Government was doing to help the industry navigate Covid and was ''brutally honest'' in his assessment of when borders might reopen to international visitors.
He hoped Australia would open soon but with the virus still rampant in much of the world he expected it could be this time next year before the Government started looking at reopening long-haul travel routes.
Much depended on decisions made by other countries, Davis said.
Tania Burt of Northland Inc speaks at a tourism industry meeting in Russell. Photo / Stephen Western
Kinnaird said Northland tourism businesses were using the rare chance provided by the pandemic to ''press the pause button'' and try to resolve fundamental challenges facing the industry such as volume versus quality and its impact on infrastructure.
Once borders reopened Kinnaird believed there would still be a place for all levels of tourism, from backpackers to luxury travellers.
''It's not about flooding the place with backpackers or cruise ships. It's about what is the appropriate number of both of those in the mix so we don't damage our environment and what we care about, to make sure what comes out of Covid is a more solid, sustainable tourism environment.''
