Auckland Airport announced the award of two $50,000 development grants for two regional operators. The grants, to NZ Wine and TIME Unlimited Tours, will allow both operators to develop innovative tourism products that support Auckland Airport’s Four Seasons Five Senses campaign to promote New Zealand as a year round destination to international travellers.

The Westpac Business Growth Grant aims to helps up and coming Kiwi businesses (with turnover under $5m) reach their potential. Dive Tutakaka is one of six finalists, competing for the prize of a $40,000 cash injection and $10,000 to spend on advertising, as well as trip Fiji to attend a business retreat for all the six finalists.

Backyard Tours was last week's recipient of the New Zealand Tourism Guide's Top Tourism Site Award

Send us your video suggestion to highlight here. It could promote your tourism experience, your region, be informative or entertaining - it's up to you! This week's video is of New Zealand NBA player Steven Adams, talking to media on why New Zealand is better than the USA

NZ businesses need to overcome bias about Maori, Westpac - A bias that Māori workers are seen as not a 'good fit' remains in New Zealand workplaces and needs to change, Westpac says.

How to do a great New Zealand road trip like NBA star Steven Adams - Scenery, singalongs, and sheep... Steven Adams has nailed the Great New Zealand Road Trip.

South Island Māori and Pasifika students tour Wellington in waka on cultural tourism course - A group of South Island high school students found themselves wading into Wellington waters as they explored how Māori culture is showcased in our tourism industry.

Business Plan template - A business plan helps you set goals for your business, and plan how you’re going to reach them. It also forces you to think about your finances, your marketing and your team.

New Zealand Story Business Toolkit - Drawing on the themes of Open Spaces, Open Hearts, Open Minds and the three core values of kaitiaki, integrity and resourcefulness; the New Zealand Story toolkit provides a practical set of business resources to help New Zealand exporters communicate to the world the distinctly Kiwi attributes that make them unique.

Planning for Inbound Success - Together with the Tourism Export Council, this is a guide to working with New Zealand Inbound Operators. Read it here, or email us to request a hard copy.

Tourism Awards Dinner - Tickets are on sale now for the New Zealand Tourism Awards Dinner, to be held in Auckland on Thursday 29 September. Buy your ticket here.

China visitor insights materials - Webinars and online modules based on the workshops are now available to help tourism operators derive greater value from the China visitor market. Modules cover topics such as product development, social media and accommodation. Access the material here.

NZ Māori Tourism's website - As a Māori tourism experience, we want to ensure you are exposed to thousands of visitors to New Zealand via our website - it is free to list and the site has lots of other valuable information for both visitors and Māori tourism experiences. Email Amy to list your experience.

Listing on newzealand.com - A presence on newzealand.com can help grow your business by connecting you with consumers considering a visit to New Zealand. A key role of the website is to drive qualified traffic to you. There is no charge for listing on newzealand.com - update your details, or list here.

Tourism Growth Partnership, Round Five - The TGP provides $8 million in contestable funding per year through co-investment in projects. This funding is divided evenly into two streams – the Productivity and Innovation Stream and the Regional Stream.

2016/17 Māori Arts Presentation Fund. Applications are now open. The MAPF supports the touring of contemporary Nga Toi Maori work to Maori audiences in regional and local communities throughout Aotearoa. Applications close Friday 14 October 2016

DOC Consultations - Have your say on the issues that DOC is currently consulting on. Learn more here.

New tourism award – Kiwis can vote and win! - TIA are delighted to launch the ‘People’s Choice Award’ as part of the New Zealand Tourism Awards this year, asking New Zealanders to tell us which tourism business in their eyes is the country’s best.

Māori Tourism Quarterly - One of the most consistent messages we receive from the Māori tourism whānau is the need to interpret the tourism and economic data so businesses can better plan, look for opportunities, and identify future markets - so we've partnered with Berl to produce the Māori Tourism Quarterly newsletter. Read it here.

Get figures for your business - Figure.nz collect data from all over New Zealand. Discover the information that can help your business make smarter decisions and succeed.

Regional Economic Activity Report - Explore your region - look at international visits,  visitor spend, economic performance, and more.

New Zealand Tourism Dashboard - this is a one-stop shop for all information about tourism. It brings together a range of tourism datasets produced by MBIE and Statistics New Zealand into one easy-to-use tool.

Wellington-based Chinese Tourism PhD student seeking NZ tourism business placement

Hi, my name’s Andy (Hongxia) Qi and I’m a PhD researcher in Tourism Management at Victoria University, Wellington.  I’ve had considerable work experience in the Chinese tourism market and other related sectors, and I am interested in helping NZ tourism businesses to access the Chinese market.  Areas I may be able to assist you with include:

1. Administration: information collection and poster design;
2. Translations and interpreting;
3. Research work: market surveys, data analysis, and preparation of report; and
4. Marketing activities: introduce China’s online providers of travel services, social media and apps for your online marketing; shortlist local tourism associations and travel agents as potential partners; gather feedback from previous Chinese tourists from online comments.

I am based in Wellington and can only work part-time at present. But I am open to opportunities from other regions requiring online services.

Ms Andy Qi
Phone: 0221587865
Email: woniuqi@hotmail.com