media & trade • newsletter

October 2008

Nelson Tasman Climbs Guest Night Ranks

Nelson is back as New Zealand's eighth most stayed in destination and hotly vying for seventh position, according to the latest Tourism Leading Indicators Monitor.

The Monitor shows Nelson Tasman, currently experiencing a year-end growth rate of 2.7%,  is the fourth fastest growing visitor destination in commercial guest nights, following the three main centres; Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury.

The region overtook Bay of Plenty in the top ten regions table in the year to the end of July, and now sits just under 3,000 annual guest nights behind the West Coast. 

This time last year, the West Coast was 33,105 commercial guest nights ahead of Nelson and Bay of Plenty was 17,202 ahead.

Nelson Tasman Tourism Chief Executive Paul Davis said the results were fantastic news.

"While there is a lot of uncertainty in the industry at present, Nelson Tasman is flying high and we're working damn hard to make sure we keep it that way."

With the region's first domestic tourism television campaign in four years now wrapping up, new investment in strategic event development, and high profile promotions with TVNZ's Breakfast programme and at Wellington Airport, Nelson's national profile was going from strength-to-strength , Mr Davis said.

"We have really ramped up our domestic marketing activity this year and we're seeing the results of that. Given the current economic climate, it's vital we keep Nelson Tasman at the front of New Zealanders' minds as they start holidaying closer to home."

Internationally, growth in the Australian market and positive developments in cruise visitation were also putting the region in a strong position, Mr Davis said.

"Rather than battening down the hatches and weathering the storm, tourism operators, regions and the country need to be even more proactive in marketing our respective businesses and destinations."

Tamati Has a Fine Time in Nelson      

Nelson's famous sunshine played a starring role in a recent broadcast of TVNZ's Breakfast programme.

Nelson Tasman Tourism Domestic Marketing Manager Angela Moriarty arranged for the show's weatherman/roving reporter Tamati Coffey to broadcast from the Cathedral Steps as part of the Nelson Spring In Nelson Every Day's a Sunday campaign last month.

A 5-day Labour Weekend holiday prize package, which was promoted through the show for a week, attracted over 6,000 entries.

Enriching Day Spa offered free massages for participants and passersby throughout the programme, and interviews were held with Nelson Arts Festival director Annabel Norman (pictured), and wine judge Martin Carrington. Masked men and dressed up dogs also featured.

The initiative was sponsored by Nelson Airport, who also funded a further 50 advertisements for the Nelson Spring campaign to run on TVNZ. This was the second year in a row we've worked with Breakfast to promote Nelson in spring.

Nelson Tasman Tourism AGM      

Nelson Tasman Tourism's (Tourism Nelson Tasman Ltd) AGM will be held at Grand Mercure Nelson Monaco on Thursday 30 October commencing at 5pm.

Tim Cossar, CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of New Zealand (TIANZ), will be our guest speaker and will talk about the latest trends in the global environment that are affecting tourism, and the future outlook for regions such as Nelson Tasman.

Nelson Tasman Tourism staff will also update you on our strategic direction, marketing programmes, sustainable tourism and visitor information centres.  Representatives from our two shareholders, Nelson City Council & Tasman District Council, will also be in attendance, along with other interested parties and tourism industry partners.

Don't miss these important industry update presentations. 

Date: Thursday 30 October

Time: 5-7.30pm

Venue: Grand Mercure Nelson Monaco, 6 Point Road, Monaco, Nelson

Timetable for the afternoon is as follows;
5pm    Nelson Tasman Tourism Update
5.30pm  Address by Tim Cossar
6pm    AGM Formalities
6.15–7.30 pm  Drinks & Networking
     
Copies of our annual report will be available at the meeting. 

Please RSVP to Tracy info@nelsonnz.com or ring 03 546 6228 by 24 October to confirm your attendance. 

Wellness Tourism Explored at Nelson Symposium      

A national wellness tourism working group is likely to be formed following the inaugural NZ Wellness Tourism Symposium held in Nelson recently.

About 80 delegates gathered at Rutherford Hotel Nelson to hear from national and international speakers from the tourism and research fields, and discuss what is currently happening on the ground in the spa and wellness industry.

In summing up the symposium, Nelson Tasman Tourism Chief Executive Paul Davis said such any group formed should look at the possibility of the wellness sector combining with existing structures rather than forming another sub group of tourism.

New Zealand being ideally positioned to take advantage of a global attitudinal shift in wellness values was a key theme of the symposium, Mr Davis said.

Pictured: Delegates at the inaugural NZ Wellness Tourism Symposium at Rutherford Hotel.

Nelson Tasman Sustainability Forum      

A meeting was held on 8 October to scope out the potential for a Nelson Tasman Sustainability Forum.  The idea being to bring together regional organisations and groups involved in sustainability activities to communicate and collaborate more formally.  This would enable sustainable development in the region to progress more efficiently, with groups working together to reduce overlaps and capitalise on opportunities.

Nelson Tasman seems to be of a good size and appropriate stage of development that such a forum would add a lot of value to what is already being achieved around sustainability.  Watch this space!

Golden Bay i-SITE Revamp      

The Golden Bay i SITE has recently had a complete interior transformation.

The new colour scheme even includes the paint colour 'Pupu Springs' on the walls!  With the removal of the large brochure stands, the centre looks and is more spacious with more room for the 50,000 visitors that come into the centre each year.

A feature of the new look is the inclusion of local art and crafts including a mural on the counter by Chris Finlayson, a lampshade from the Naked Possum gallery and a funky coffee table crafted by Brian Cooper of  Weka Arts, which has already become known as the hobbit table. Stunning signage created by artist Nikki Winter gives clear information about the brochures and posters which now line the walls.

Still to be installed is a large quilt depicting many of the attractions in Golden Bay, being created by the local quilters group. It will hang from the ceiling alongside two others which were also created by these talented women. One depicts the history of the Collingwood township and the other the flora and fauna of Golden Bay.

We welcome you to come in and have a look!

Monthly Statistics      

Here are the latest Nelson Tasman statistics on domestic and international guest nights and www.NelsonNZ.com website visits

Guest Nights	Aug 08	% Change Aug 07	YE Aug 08	% Change YE Aug 08
Domestic	34,460	-13%	832,110	2%
International	12,590	-13%	448,680	.5%
Total	47,049	-13%	1,280,790	1.5%

 
Source: Statistics NZ

Website Visits - www.NelsonNZ.com

	Aug 08	% change from Aug 07
Unique Visits	10729	43.3%
No. of Visits	23358	74.8%

Most Visited Pages
1. Accommodation
2. Events
3. About Nelson
4. Sights & Activities

Origin of Visitors (to site)
1. United States
2. New Zealand
3. Australia
4. Europe

What's New - Operator Update      

• Rachel Ryan has recently launched a New Zealand aspect to her walking business - Walk Nelson NZ is a 10 day walking trip - an exploration of the natural heritage and character of the Nelson region including the Marlborough Sounds, Abel Tasman and Kahurangi national parks, and Golden Bay - check out www.walknelsonnz.com for more information.
• Angela Hunter from Hunter Tourism Consultancy has recently purchased Nelson Escapes (the tourism office component of Nelson Tourism Services) - Angela will be running her consultancy business & the booking office from Trafalgar St and will be known as Nelson Escapes Tourism Agency - check out www.nelsonescapes.co.nz
• Congratulations to Rutherford Hotel Nelson on upgrading to Qualmark 4 Star Plus accreditation in the hotel category

Snippets      

• Escaping the cold winter in Berlin, Germany, Daniela Heideck joins the team at NTT for a 5 month long internship assisting Domestic Marketing Manager, Angela Moriarty.  Having finished her coursework at the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin within the Business Communication Management program, she was ready to have some oversea experience in Aotearoa, and Nelson being the sunniest place in NZ seemed especially appealing to her!
• The Ministry of Tourism has recently released it's Accessing New Zealand's Official Tourism Data booklet which outlines the Ministry's tourism research programme and the tourism datasets, publications, and electronic feeds available - a pdf version of this booklet is available at www.tourismresearch.govt.nz/access and contains dozens of clickable links that will get you directly to relevant places on the website
• The Tasman District Council has released a report based on research done by NIWA regarding the potential effects of climate change in Tasman.  This is a timely report that predicts what Tasman is likely to face during the rest of this century and can be accessed via the TDC website 
• eDay was a huge success on Saturday 4 October.  This was the day for collection of computer and communications equipment for re-use and recycling at 32 locations across New Zealand.  Globally, e-waste is one of the fastest growing types of waste and due to containing toxic materials such as lead, mercury and cadmium, is also one of the most dangerous.  In Nelson 910 cars dropped off 45 tonnes, while in Takaka 3 tonnes of equipment were collected from 101 cars.  This is a great effort for our region as we collected about 5% of New Zealand's total waste on the day, but only comprise about 2% of the country's population.