UK campaign seeks to attract greater share of niche market

Promotion drive by Matt Bond

UK campaign seeks to attract greater share of niche market

Lifestyle-orientated promotion targets specialist sales

A new UK campaign is hoping to attract a greater share of the niche market to New Zealand by steering attention away from the traditional backpacker and visiting friends and relatives markets.

Air New Zealand is launching a lifestyle-orientated promotion aimed at drawing specialist sectors of the UK market to the country. To be launched officially next month, the campaign will use targeted brochures, Web sites and direct-mail initiatives to cover themes ranging from wine to Maori heritage, golf, walking, fishing, art, fashion and culture. At present, a wine brochure and Web site have been finished and a golf brochure is due to be launched.

Air New Zealand UKmanager Roger Poulton said the initiative will be further developed over the next 12 months.

“This campaign takes the marketing starting point back to the consumer to find out what their interests are, what they want from a destination and then tailor the information we’re presenting to them to suit their lifestyle and interests,” he said.

“We will be selling this idea to the UKtrade as it is a superb way for us to help generate sales leads for tour operators and retailers prepared to put together special-interest tours and ideas for New Zealand.”

Tailormade Travel is the first UKoperator to back the campaign and will act as a fulfilment service to Web site and direct-mail enquiries, tailoring tours for the wine product.

Wine

Air New Zealand’s 16-page Discover New Zealand Wine brochure covers all the major wine-producing regions of the country, from Waiheke Island in the middle of Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf to the world’s most southerly vineyards of Queenstown in central Otago.

It also details regional wine varieties featuring wineries such as the famous Cloudy Bay estate in Marlborough and lists contact information for each winery. This includes Web sites and tour operators featuring wine tours.

Tourism New Zealand is supporting the themed product by developing a new wine trail along the Hawke’s Bay, Martinborough and Marlborough regions, which account for 70% of the country’s wine production. Details can be found at www.wine-nz.com.

Kuoni is featuring the Marlborough wine region from next April with separate coach touring and self-drive New Zealand Explorer packages.

The lead-in price for the 17-night escorted tour is £1,978, while the self-drive costs from £1,207 based on the same duration. Both packages, which include flights from the UK, also take in Auckland, Rotorua, Queenstown and Christchurch.

Travel 2 is selling a new one-day Winery Tour of Martinborough, home to 20 boutique wineries clustered around a colonial farming village, from £54.

The tour allows clients to sample wines and includes an à la carte lunch.

Golf

New Zealand has more golf courses per capita than any other country in the world with more than 400 locations offering a diversity of playing conditions.

Fairway hazards take on a whole new meaning at the North Island’s Rotorua Golf Club which provides the opportunity to play among geothermal activity with a steaming lake and bubbling mud pools by the 16th hole.

A new par 72 golf course and resort set on 4,000 acres of coastal farmland has opened at Kauri Cliffs in the Bay of Islands. The Clubhouse and Lodge at Kauri Cliffs will be completed in December.

As yet, there are no golf operators servicing New Zealand from the UK but a Kiwi specialist called Golfing – the New Zealand Experience offers luxury golf holidays and can be contacted at www.nzgolfing.com.

Kuoni features the Copthorne Resort in Waitangi and the Ouka Park Resort in the Coromandel, both situated near championship golf courses.

Regional flavour: follow the wine trail

Golf: the country has a wide variety of courses

Walking

The New Zealand walking season is underway and the Milford Track in Fiordland, the country’s flagship track on the South Island, is facing another heavily booked period for escorted walks.

Air New Zealand is planning to introduce a new walking brochure designed to broaden the UK consumer’s understanding of what is involved on a walking track and is promoting other circuits in Fiordland which include the Routeburn, Greenstone Valley and Hollyford Valley trails.

Other areas such as Stewart Island, the Queen Charlotte Walkway in the Marlborough Sound and the Tongariro Crossing in central North Island, known as the Volcanic Plateau, will also be featured in the brochure which is under development.

Kuoni and Travel 2 have introduced land-only packages based on the Abel Tasman Guided Walk. Kuoni offers a four-night walking tour with no more than five hours trekking a day. The walk is available year round from £420 per person. Travel 2 sells a three-day tour from £224.

Culture and art

The country’s New World image will receive another dimension with the publication of Air New Zealand’s art, fashion and culture brochure.

The national carrier’s UK manager Roger Poulton said: “The best of the New Zealand lifestyle couldn’t be further from the stereotypical image that many Britons still retain of New Zealand.

“It’s true the pace of life is slower than in the UK but in the cities the cuisine is superb, café life is buzzing, shopping is interesting and sport is an integral part of most people’s daily lives.”

Auckland’s Vulcan Lane is one of the best areas for funky fashion and design shops but another interesting shopping area is Parnell, where boutiques and restaurants are clustered in restored colonial houses.

Te Papa, the museum of New Zealand in Wellington, is the country’s most visited attraction and highlights not only important aspects of Maori culture but also historic moments in New Zealand’s history.

There is a large number of interactive and visual displays. For more information visit www.tepapa.govt.nz

Nelson in the South Island is one of New Zealand’s premier arts and crafts centres and is newly featured by Travel 2.

It offers stays at the Rutherford Hotel in the centre of Nelson from £26 per person per night, and the Bronte Lodge villas and suites, situated outside the town, from £38.

New Zealand has a busy and varied events calendar which can be found at www.purenz.com.

Auckland: hit the streets for coffee culture

Lake Rotorua: offers fishing throughout the year

Fishing

Whether the requirement is for remote freshwater angling or deep-sea game fishing, enthusiasts of the sport are spoilt for choice with the wealth of locations in New Zealand.

Adding to the options is Travel 2, which has introduced a three-day Trans Alpine Luxury escape based around one of the country’s most famous fishing spots, Lake Brunner.

Staying at the Lake Brunner Lodge in the Southern Alps, clients can spend the trip fishing, relaxing, mountain biking or canoeing. All meals and transfers to and from Christchurch are included in the package, priced from £213. Activities are extra.

Another angling opportunity is offered by Qantas Holidays, which features stays at the five-star Huka Lodge on the banks of the Waikato River on the North Island from £342 per person per night, based on two sharing. The price includes breakfast, pre-dinner cocktails and a five-course dinner.

Tourism Rotorua has updated its Rotorua Trout Fishing Guide in association with the Rotorua Anglers Association.

The 64-page publication has information on fishing techniques and details access to lakes and location of boat ramps, plus a guide about where to fish in the area throughout the year. Visit Tourism Rotorua at www.rotoruaNZ.com for more details.

There are two UK-based specialist operators featuring fishing trips to New Zealand. Although both Frontiers and Go Fishing major on direct sales, they will also work with the retail trade.

Maori culture andHeritage

The New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute at Whakarewarewa on the North Island is famous for being home not only to an impressive display of traditional Maori culture and heritage but also the Pohutu Geyser, which has recently made it into the record books.

The usually intermittent displays of spouting water and steam have been replaced by a non-stop eruption that has so far lasted over 207 days.

Its last record was for 40 days non stop set in 1936.

Mokoia Island nature reserve on Lake Rotorua now has boat access, giving visitors the chance to see several endangered bird species.

Visitors are welcomed in traditional Maori fashion before setting off on a one-hour guided tour.

Details can be found at mokoia.island@xtra.co.nz.

The Te Maori Art Gallery at Tamaki Maori Village, south of Rotorua, has opened allowing local and national artists and crafts people to display and sell their work.

Travel 2 sells a three-day Rotorua and Waitomo caves tour from Auckland which features a traditional Maori concert and Hangi feast for £214.

Maori culture: appealing to tourists

South Island: escorted tours in the Southern Alps region are very popular with walking enthusiasts