media & trade • newsletter

December 09

CEO Comment

As we head towards the peak of the peak season, the signs are starting to show a recovery.  Commercial accommodation data released last week showed Nelson Tasman guest nights grew by 4.1% in October 2009, ahead of the national growth rate of 0.5%.  Perhaps the best sign is this is the first month for some time where both domestic and international guest nights have grown.

Even the annual sunshine hour count shows Nelson leading the country again as at the end of November - another good sign.

And, the decision last week by Nelson City Council not to proceed with the proposed Performing Arts & Conference Centre development on the Selwyn Place site shows Council has listened to the concerns of submitters.  It's clear to us that the focus now needs to be on developing an iconic, publicly owned regional conference facility which puts Nelson at the forefront of regional conference destinations, and helps deliver our regional economy with the much needed off season business boost we all so desperately need.

All the best for a busy, prosperous and safe holiday season.

Conference Organisers Get a Taste of the Region      

In just two short days, six handpicked conference organisers from around the country got to find out for themselves why mixing business with pleasure is inescapable in Nelson Tasman. 

Nelson Tasman Tourism organised the regional famil tour with industry partners. While all our guests came with serious research in mind, there was no shortage of enthusiasm for the opportunity to sample first-hand some of the experiences usually reserved for the delegates.

“Fun aside, first-hand knowledge is imperative for conference organisers” says NTT’s Domestic Marketing Manager, Nicki van Asch.  “It gives them confidence in the venues and products they recommend to their own clients.  With this in mind, we are really pleased with the bookings and inquiries received from our most recent famil group already.”

Visit NTT's facebook page to see some pics of the recent famil.

Release of Nelson Tasman Official Visitor Guide 2010      

The 2010 edition of our Nelson Tasman Official Visitor Guide has been released.

110,000 copies of the guide are produced annually and are distributed all around the country and around the world.  Every i-SITE visitor centre in New Zealand carries the guide as do international travel trade companies and Tourism New Zealand/New Zealand Embassy offices overseas. The guide also features in over 680 additional locations as part of the Jason's Travel Media distribution circuit and dedicated Nelson Tasman Official Visitor Guide display boxes are also located in key locations around the region.

The guide is a motivational and informative piece which encourages visitors to make the decision to visit Nelson Tasman. The excellent reach of the guide's distribution coupled with the variation and quality of the advertisers featured confirms and increases the appeal of Nelson Tasman as a visitor destination.

Further supplies can be arranged by emailing info@nelsonnz.com, indicating the quantity required.

And, please contract Tracy at Nelson Tasman Tourism if you have any comments (feedback is always welcome).

Access Tourism Website      

A new website on Access Tourism in New Zealand and worldwide has been born.  Go to http://www.accesstourismnz.org.nz for news, reviews, and opinion pieces on Access Tourism and to submit feedback, comments, articles, news pieces, or opinion pieces. 

Access Tourism is tourism for people with disabilities.  Already a huge untapped economic market, the number of people with disabilities worldwide is set to grow with the ageing of the large Baby Boomer generation because disability increases with age.   Our major rival Australia, our major tourist sources, and international bodies such as the EC, UN, ASEAN, ESCAP, etc have all been studying, planning, strategising, and/or catering for tourists with disabilities and the related silver market for a number of years now.  Meanwhile, NZ virtually ignores this lucrative sector. 

Silly Season Opening Hours      

The office of Nelson Tasman Tourism will close at midday on Thursday 24 December.  The office will be closed on statutory holidays, and will be manned by a skeleton staff during the period 29/31 December.  

Hours for the i-SITEs are as follows;

Nelson i-SITE Visitor Centre

Present:  8.30am - 5.00pm (Mon-Fri), 9.00am - 5.00pm (Sat-Sun)

24 Dec:  8.30am - 4.00pm

25 Dec:  CLOSED

26-28 Dec:  9.00am - 6.00pm

29-31 Dec:  8.30am - 6.00pm

1 Jan:  10.00am - 6.00pm

2-3 Jan:  9.00am - 6.00pm

4th Jan until mid Mar:  8.30am - 6.00pm (Mon-Fri), 9.00am - 6.00pm (Sat-Sun)

Golden Bay i-SITE Visitor Centre

14 Dec - 23rd Dec:  9.00 - 6.00pm

24 Dec:  9.00am - 5.00pm

25 Dec:  CLOSED

26-31 Dec:  9.00am - 6.00pm

1 Jan:  10.00am - 6.00pm

2 Jan until mid Feb:  9.00am - 6.00pm

Murchison Visitor Centre

Present:  10.00am - 5.00pm

Sundays: 10.00am - 4 pm

24 Dec:  10.00am- 4.00pm

25 Dec:  CLOSED

26 Dec - end March:  10am - 6.00pm  

New Summer Staff at Nelson i-SITE      

This year we only have two new summer staff joining the team as we have seasoned staff members Cathy, Anara & Ayla returning.

We welcome Chris Thurston and Julia Ricketts to the team.  With a wealth of knowledge between them they have made training a breeze!

Chris has just finished his degree in Marketing and Management at Canterbury and has sales, tourism and hospitality experience.

Julia has a 21 month old daughter and has extensive experience as a travel agent, along with a Diploma in Travel and Tourism.

i-SITE Speed Dating      

Last week the four visitor centres around the region got together for i-SITE speed dating with local activity operators. 

This was a great opportunity to get new summer staff up to speed with complex product, and enable activity operators to update staff more efficiently in one location.  The staff love this format and we would appreciate any feedback on the format from participating operators.

We'd like to thank Steve and his team at the Motueka Top 10 Holiday Park for providing such an ideal venue.

Events      

Event Organiser’s Training Seminar
The Nelson Events Marketing and Development Programme ran the first Event Organiser Training Seminar on 17 November with over 20 event organisers attending and speakers presenting on various aspects of Promoting Your Event.  This was a huge success with some really positive feedback and planning in progress for the next seminar to be held in February.  If you are interested in attending these seminars, please let Victoria know.  Victoria@NelsonNZ.com

Nelson Growables
Nelson Growables which received sponsorship funding from the Events Marketing & Development Programme, for marketing to Marlborough residents, was a huge success recently.  Over 4,000 people attended the day with fantastic feedback and the planning for next year’s show is already underway.

ItsOn.co.nz
The promotional campaign for the Its On website continues over the summer with radio adverts and weekly event updates, poster and flyer placements, print adverts and website competitions.

Its On Events Update
The Canterbury Community Trust Lantern Celebration Saturday 19th December 2009 Centre of New Zealand/Botanicals
http://www.itson.co.nz/2009/607-the-canterbury-community-trust-lantern-celebration
Carols by Candlelight Sunday 20th December 2009 Washbourn Gardens. http://www.itson.co.nz/2009/547-carols-by-candlelight
Tineli Nelson Tour de Femme Sunday 27th Wednesday to 30th December 2009 http://www.itson.co.nz/2009/33-nelson-tour-de-femme
Phat 10 Wednesday 30th December 2009 to Saturday 2nd January 2010 http://www.itson.co.nz/2009/161-phat-10
New Year's Eve Thursday 31st December 2009 
http://itson.co.nz/2009/608-new-years-eve
Nelson Jazz & Blues Festival Saturday 2nd to Saturday 9th January 2010 http://www.itson.co.nz/2010/175-woollaston-nelson-jazz-blues-festival
Port Nelson Street Races Saturday 2nd January 2010
http://www.itson.co.nz/2010/503-port-nelson-street-races

Check out the Nelson Tasman events website, www.itson.co.nz, for more info on events, because if it’s on, it’s on Its On!

Monthly Statistics      

Here are the latest Nelson Tasman statistics on domestic and international guest nights.

Guest Nights	Oct 09	% Change Oct 08	YE Oct 09	% Change YE Oct 09
Domestic	46,033	2.6%	777,641	-6.3%
International	26,313	7%	438,012	0.7%
Total	72,346	4.1%	1,215,653	-3.9%

 
Source: Statistics NZ

Website Visits - www.NelsonNZ.com

	Oct 09
Unique Visits	10,550
No. of Visits	16,653

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

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

What's New - Operator Update      

• Two of the three Waimea wines, previously awarded gold, went onto higher honours after the Air New Zealand Awards trophy & elite gold medals were announced recently - The Waimea 09 Sauvignon Blanc and Waimea 08 Gewürztraminer
• Jeanette Lusty has sold Nelson Helicopters to HELiPRO and will be moving on to new challenges - Jeanette says, "a big thanks to all the great support from other operators and Nelson Tasman Tourism over the last 8 years".
• Executive Limousines Nelson Ltd have launched a new service - Luxury Group Wine Tours, limited to 11 clients - contact Executive Limousines for more information info@executivelimousines.co.nz
• And an update from Qualmark - Alpine Lodge have been upgraded from 2 star to 3 star plus in the hotel category, Cable Bay Holiday Park from 3 star to 3 star plus in the holiday park category, Murchison Motel from 4 star to 4 star plus in the Self Contained & Serviced category and Anatoki Salmon have achieved silver in the Enviro-Logo section
  

Snippets      

• If you need to get hold of a Nelson or Golden Bay i-SITE staff member for something important quickly, we have the following operator hotline numbers available: Nelson i-SITE:  03 539 0822, Golden Bay i-SITE:  027 511 9755.  Please only phone this number if necessary - being mindful that staff are leaving a customer to answer this phone.  Please DO NOT give this number out to the general public.  
• Congratulations to Simon at Skydive Abel Tasman , whose photo entry was selected as one of the 13 winning entries to feature in Tourism Industry Association's 2010 calendar. Click here to see the winning photos.
• The latest Regional Visitor Monitor for data to September 2009 is now available for download from www.tourismresearch.govt.nz/rvm - this Quarterly Focus looks at international backpacker characteristics, and shows that contrary to popular belief, backpackers do not travel 'on the fly' - they plan ahead. 
• A new book entitled Rolling Stones: Nelson’s Boulder Bank by Nelson author Karen Warren was launched on 27 November - this lavishly illustrated 320-page book is the first comprehensive account of the Boulder Bank, a uniquely Nelson landform. Copies are available at Page and Blackmore Booksellers, Paper Plus Nelson and other good bookshops or direct from the publishers Nikau Press, PO Box 602, Nelson,  nikau@ts.co.nz. 
• The New Zealand Holiday Parks Assn has released an independent review and analysis of existing data relating to the use of holiday parks and the provision of holiday park accommodation - check out www.holidayparks.co.nz for more information
• Important information on how visitors to the area can contact medical services can be downloaded and printed from http://www.bewell.org.nz/holidaycare  Hard copies of these fliers are available from Bewell Nelson Bays Primary Health Organisation ph 03 539 1170, Freephone: 0800 731 317, info@nelsonbayspho.org.nz  - it is important that visitors are encouraged to use the appropriate GP services as the hospital's Emergency Department needs to be kept for the most urgent and serious cases.
• Sick of squishing into a small room for your meetings? Need somewhere with a data projector, internet, and an electronic whiteboard that prints out your brainstorming notes?  Nelson Tasman Tourism’s offices, situated upstairs in the Millers Acre Centre, Taha o te Awa, include board and meeting rooms which are available for hire for business meetings when not in use internally.  To inquire about booking, please ring Tracy Penney 03 546 6228 or email info@NelsonNZ.com
• SOCIAL MEDIA QUICK TIP OF THE MONTH:  Include a link in your email signature to www.tripadvisor.com inviting your guests and customers to comment on the experience they received with you.