Interview: Tourism New Zealand CEO on Smarter Digital Marketing
Skift Take
New Zealand knows its niche as an outdoors and adventure destination and plays that specific card only to the travelers that have already show interest in similar activities. Playing any other angle is a waste of time for the distant destination.
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Editor’s Note: Skift is publishing a series of interviews with CEOs of destination marketing organizations where we discuss the future of their organizations and the evolving strategies for attracting visitors. Read all the interviews as they come out here.
This continues our series of CEO interviews that began with online travel CEOs in Future of Travel Booking (now an e-book), and continued with hotel CEOs in the Future of the Guest Experience series (which is also an e-book).
Long an infrequently visited country of untouched outdoor landscapes, New Zealand burst onto the international scene when the minds behind two remarkable movie franchises -- the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies -- decided to produce their films in the country more than 13 years ago.
The series brought New Zealand into the living rooms of viewers across the world. The tourism board has since capitalized on by making as many connections as possible between the real-life destination and fictitious Middle Earth in movie-goers’ and travelers’ minds.
New Zealand’s national carrier Air New Zealand also jumped on the Middle Earth craze with a series of in-flight safety videos and advertisements. These efforts were complemented by giant art installations at airports.
As a result of the films as well as growing awareness of the destination and increased international travel, a record 2.8 million visitors arrived in New Zealand between March 2013 and 2014, a 5.4 percent increase over the same 12-month period one year earlier. It's seen growth despite an earthquake that destroyed key parts of the city of Christchurch in 2011.
The top source markets for that time period are Australia, China, United States, UK and Germany of which Germany (+14.5%) and China (+14%) have experienced the most growth.
Tourism New Zealand Kevin Bowler knows that the time and money it takes travelers from most markets to travel to the country will forever be a challenge despite its recent rise in popularity. As a result, he’s become laser focused on which groups of travelers he goes after and the kinds of stories his organization tells about the destination.
Skift recently spoke to Bowler about the country’s unique and targeted marketing strategies, how his and other destination marketing organizations can more effectively prove their value, and how he plans to build on film tourism lessons for future success.
