Industry Update - Campaign Phase 3, surveys and projects underway

Locals welcome visitors back to The Coromandel

The good news on a plan for the reopening of New Zealand borders to international travellers will be a relief for many. The latest data from Marketview shows The Coromandel ranked 4th in New Zealand for total domestic spend in January, up 3.5% on January 2021. But things remain tough for our businesses in spite of good peak season visitor numbers in The Coromandel.

We pressed on with the third phase of our marketing campaign despite evidence of increased reluctance to travel, as boosting late summer bookings remains crucial. Our new video featuring local talent is made possible by funding from central government to support domestic travel marketing. This type of content, created for television, is not possible within normal Destination Coromandel budgets. It is more costly to produce, rights to a great sound track add expense and distribution costs are additional.

The video is an inspirational piece featured on TVNZ On-Demand and Livestream and TV3 On-Demand. It is also running on the usual suite of digital channels, both owned and paid.

Late summer bookings

We know that specials, deals and packages work and that's why we always mention them in these updates, and feature them in campaigns and on our website. The best way to participate is to display them on Tourism New Zealand's site. Listing on www.newzealand.com is an important basic step to promote your business to domestic and international travellers, plus it’s free. If you need help with this or basic marketing advice don’t hesitate to contact our team.

Carbon Zero Business Operations certification for Destination Coromandel

Last year the team took the first steps toward zero carbon, by making a carbon inventory, measuring emissions and offsetting with NZ carbon credits to gain certification with Ekos. One of our goals is to make our organisation sustainable, to do our part to restore our environment, and it's part of an industry-wide action plan we will ask you to join very soon.

Cultural Highway Concept Survey

As one of our government-funded projects, Tourism Bay of Plenty, Trust Tairāwhiti and Destination Coromandel are investigating the demand for a Cultural Highway across our three regions, to allow manuhiri (visitors) to engage with Te Ao Māori. We seek the opinions of those involved in cultural tourism, hospitality, retail businesses and start-ups before we seek the perspectives and priorities of other partners.

It's a short survey: Cultural Highway Concept Survey

Waikato Business Sentiment Survey

Te Waka collects 6-monthly data on business confidence: Business Sentiment Survey.

Other DC activities

All the projects undertaken with the government's Tourism Re-set funding are continuing as Destination Coromandel widens its focus to destination management. Our project manager Whitney Steel completed her contract, and having wished her well for her new role at Xero, the DC team continues work on the Destination Management Plan while progressing all other projects.

Trade Marketing for accommodation businesses

HyperGuest is a new online travel company connecting NZ accommodation inventory directly with a global network of partners including OTAs, Travel Agents, Wholesalers and Airlines. Committed to reducing commissions through a new model they offer a quick and easy sign up.

Please keep in touch with how you are going and your plans as you make them.