Tourism Export Council of New ZealandUpdates - Tourism Export Council of New Zealand

The Operator and Inbound Operator of the Year 2013 finalists have been named!

OPERATOR OF THE YEAR finalists include: Real Journeys, SKYCITY Hotels and Hobbiton Movie Set & Tours.

INBOUND OPERATOR OF THE YEAR finalists include: Pacific Destinationz, NZ Journeys (2007) Ltd and Southern World.

Voting forms and profiles have been sent to members and the winners announced at the Copthorne Solway Resort Hotel during the Tourism Conference Wednesday 21 August.

NAU MAI MAGAZINE July 2013

Business first then culture for successful Māori tourism operators

For Māori tourism businesses to succeed they need to focus on business fundamentals before the cultural dimension, says Tourism Export Council chief executive Lesley Immink. “You need to put Māori culture to the side when you start a business, and look at it commercially, and at what business skills you need,” Lesley says.

“In the past there was too much emphasis on being an authentic Māori experience, rather than concentrating right at the start on business skills. That’s why we have had very few Māori start ups grow into larger operators as while the cultural intention was evident, some business skills have been lacking. The focus should be on defining the business components of your product and weaving tikanga through it from all points of communication to the end delivery.” This is what creates a unique point of difference from other mainstream product.

Start up operators need to invest in understanding business basics, from understanding gst to domestic/international marketing, product development and pricing. To do this they need a plan to keep going until the business is self sustaining and this includes membership to the appropriate organizations like the Tourism Export Council and the Tourism Industry Association.

“As a business mentor, when I’m working with couples I say that one of them has to keep their day job until the business can pay them both a realistic wage,” Lesley says. High profile Māori tourism success stories like Whale Watch, the Tamaki Māori Village, Mitai Māori Village, Te Puia, New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute, Hell’s Gate, and Te Hana Te Ao Marama are now all sustainable businesses with an export ready product, she says, but started one day and one tour at a time.

Lesley, who has affiliations with Tūwharetoa and Ngāti Apa, has 30 years experience in the tourism industry. She has won two New Zealand Tourism Awards, and successfully started, and for 14 years ran, an inbound tour company specialising in the youth and education markets, New Zealand Educational Tours.

The Tourism Export Council (formerly the Inbound Tourism Operators Council) works to bring product suppliers together with New Zealand inbound tour operators to grow New Zealand as an international tourism destination.

Lesley sees having successful Māori tourism experiences as critical to marketing New Zealand as an international tourism destination.

“My vision is for Māori to be a primary motivation for the majority of our overseas visitors coming to New Zealand.” At the moment the key motivator is our stunning scenery and often it is not until visitors arrive in New Zealand that they appreciate that the Maori culture is something quite unique and special. She says changes in the international market place means that her vision is realistic.

“The customer is changing. After doing the big icon countries of the world the visitor will turn their attention to countries that are environmentally and culturally sustainable. National tourism organisations like Tourism Australia and Tourism New Zealand are starting to leverage off their indigenous cultures. We are definitely ahead of the Australians in terms of the maturity and professionalism of our Maori product and in fact several Maori are now advising Indigenous groups in Australia.” With Tourism New Zealand seeing Māori culture as a point of difference for New Zealand, the next challenge is to make sure that more Māori tourism business operators become export ready, she says.

A positive development is that Maori tourism businesses are maturing and more and more young Māori are gaining tertiary business qualifications. “They want to succeed and are going back into the family business with a whole set of business skills.”

When developing new tourism products operators need to consider how New Zealand sells itself overseas, Lesley says. Traditionally, the North Island is marketed internationally as Māori, geothermal and citylife products while the South Island is about scenery, nature and conservation. Maori operators need to appreciate that while international visitors do want to experience Maori product, they don’t necessarily want to do it at every destination she says. It is like coming to New Zealand because they want to see the home of AJ Hackett Bungy and do one or two jumps, but they don’t want to do it in every available destination. There needs to be strong differentiation between the range of Maori product for a visitor to experience culture activities in different destinations.

A change in the market that is creating opportunities for smaller operators is the increase in Free Independent Travellers (FITs). Where once ITOs needed relationships with 100 key operators to meet the needs of inbound groups, the more diverse requirements of the FITs means that they now need to work with 2000 operators, she says.

“The rise of the FIT visitor has real benefits for smaller Māori operators,” she says. To capitalise on this opportunity, the Tourism Export Council working with Air New Zealand, Tourism Auckland, and New Zealand Māori Tourism, organised an event that brought 20 Māori tourism business and 25 inbound operators together in Auckland in September 2012.

“The event was highly successful. Some Māori operators wrote new business, others established relationships, and others identified that they needed to do more to make their product export ready, Lesley says. Inbound operators were pleasantly surprised with the range of new product and keen to learn of more.” Because of the success of the event, a similar one is now being planned for 12 September 2013.

Ends

Preparations for the annual Tourism Export Council Conference 20 -23 August 2013 in Masterton are well underway with the Destination Wairarapa team keen to make it as memorable as possible. The line up of speakers are confirmed and we are excited to present:

Jim Boult giving a NZ Airports report; Chris Flynn from PATA and this year talking about new emerging markets of Russia and Latin America; Pania Tyson-Nathan from NZ Maori Tourism re progress with Maori operators and working with other export sectors offshore; Sarah Bennett from Lonely Planet discussing how and why Lonely Planet has survived the digital age as the number one travel guide and Gina Paladini from Tomahawk who will advise latest social media news and working with traditional and online distributors in today’s environment. The Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism Hon. John Key will be speaking ahead of MBIE, Martin Snedden TIA followed by Kevin Bowler TNZ, and the market updates from the regional managers – Tony Everitt (Asia), Gregg Anderson (Western Markets) and Tim Burgess (Australia). To finish the conference plenary session we have the inspirational Justine Troy, founder of 42 Below.

A panel discussion will be held re “tourism and the environment – what do we need to do to protect our greatest natural asset for the growth of tourism in the future?” Delegates will be sent more information about this session, closer to the conference.

The Destination Wairarapa hosted evening on Tue 20 August will be at the George Hood Aviation Centre with the opportunity to meet with local tourism operators. Wednesday evening is a sit down dinner for the “operator of the year awards’ with entertainment provided by the famed kiwi icon band, the Warratahs. After a full day of plenary speakers on Thu 22, what better way to unwind than with our themed evening function hosted at Tui HQ, Mangatainoka? If you have always wanted to visit Managatainoka, don’t miss this opportunity – guaranteed to be memorable! Remember the theme for dress is “if I wasn’t in tourism, I’d be a….”

GO Rentals is run by a big team of extremely passionate people who GO further in every way to make your clients journey a roaring success. GO have a fleet of thousands of safe, reliable, clean and affordable late-model vehicles. What you see is what you get. There are no hidden costs and the car you book is the car your client drives. All that, plus our standout service, will really put a smile on everyones dial.

This Regional Tourism Organisation is jointly funded by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and the local tourism industry via the Hawke’s Bay Tourism Industry Association. Our aim is to spread the word about Hawke’s Bay, ensuring we are a highly competitive player, increasing our market share of domestic and international visitors and overall economic contribution to the region. Our mission statement is: ‘let’s get on with it’.

River boat cruises in a fleet of fully enclosed custom-built jet boats. One-way tours for coach groups; to suit itinerary. 1 ½ one-way or return safari plus picnic lunch departures by arrangement. Bookings essential.

NAU MAI – INTERVIEW “Balancing Act”

The most successful Maori businesses have managed to balance the cultural and commercial aspects of their business, these aspects of which are not mutually exclusive. If we look back at those businesses who have focused on one or t’other they have struggled and actually are probably not around today says Tourism Export Council Chief Executive Lesley Immink.

We often hear the Maori mantra ‘culturalising commerce’ we need more of it Lesley says.

We all know that Maori take a long-term view and whether that is about growing a business to employ the whanau or to leave a legacy for the mokopuna or to have an improved quality of life, whatever the aspirations, I have yet to meet a tourism operator Maori or otherwise who wants anything less than to make a profit, preferably considerable profit.

We also know that to achieve our end point we require a certain level of business acumen coupled with a comparative advantage – our Maoriness, inter-woven throughout every aspect of the business to provide that overall point of difference we so often talk about.

Start up operators need to invest in understanding business basics, from gst to domestic/international marketing, product development and pricing.

To do this they need a plan to keep going until the business is self sustaining, which includes membership to the appropriate organizations like the Tourism Export Council and the Tourism Industry Association.

“As a business mentor, when I’m working with couples I say that one of them has to keep their day job until the business can pay them both a realistic wage,” Lesley says.

High profile Māori tourism success stories like Kaikoura Whale Watch, the Tamaki Māori Village, Mitai Māori Village, Te Puia, New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute, Hell’s Gate, and Te Hana Te Ao Marama are now all sustainable businesses with an export ready product but started one day and one tour at a time, she says.

Lesley, who has affiliations to Tūwharetoa and Ngāti Apa, has 30 years experience in the tourism industry. She has won two New Zealand Tourism Awards, and successfully started, and for 14 years ran, an inbound tour company specialising in the youth and education markets, New Zealand Educational Tours.

Lesley sees having successful Māori tourism experiences as critical to marketing New Zealand as an international tourism destination.

“My vision is for Māori to be a primary motivation for the majority of our overseas visitors. At the moment the key motivator is our stunning scenery, and often it is not until visitors arrive in New Zealand that they appreciate Māori culture as something quite unique and special.

She says changes in the international market place means that her vision is realistic. “The customer is changing. After doing the iconic countries, visitors will turn their attention to countries that are environmentally and culturally sustainable. National tourism organisations like Tourism Australia and Tourism New Zealand are starting to leverage off their indigenous cultures.”

With Tourism New Zealand seeing Māori culture as a point of difference, the next challenge is to make sure that more Māori tourism business operators become export ready, she says.

When developing new tourism products operators need to consider how New Zealand sells itself overseas. Traditionally, the North Island is marketed internationally as Māori, geothermal and citylife products while the South Island is about scenery, nature and conservation.

“Māori operators need to appreciate that while international visitors want to experience Māori product, they don’t necessarily want it at every destination. There needs to be strong differentiation between the range of Māori product for a visitor to experience culture activities in different destinations.”

A change in the market that is creating opportunities for smaller Māori operators is the increase in Free Independent Travellers (FITs).

Where once ITOs needed relationships with 100 key operators to meet the needs of inbound groups, the more diverse requirements of the FITs means that they now need to work with 2000 operators, she says.

To capitalise on this opportunity the Tourism Export Council, working with Air New Zealand, Tourism Auckland, and NZ Māori Tourism, organised an event that brought 20 Māori tourism business and 25 inbound operators together in Auckland in September 2012.

“The event was highly successful. Some Māori operators wrote new business, others established relationships, and others identified that they needed to do more to make their product export ready,” Lesley says. “Inbound operators were pleasantly surprised with the range of new product and keen to learn of more.” Another event is planned for 12 September 2013.

Tomahawk is passionate about promoting tourism businesses online. Website development, online booking and payment solutions, search engine optimisation and social media campaigns are just some of the ways Tomahawk helps businesses succeed. Not just office-bound geeks, the Tomahawk team understand the tourism industry thoroughly, with plenty of first-hand experience running and marketing tourism businesses.

It has been 12 months since ITOC changed its name to the Tourism Export Council and time for an annual health check of how the organisation is faring.

For our own personal health we generally measure blood pressure, heart rate and if we are maintaining reasonable size and shape. Its wise to get serviced annually and have a good relationship with our health professional by paying attention to any niggles so that they don’t become something more serious. ie. preventative maintenance is key

If we apply the above to the Tourism Export Council the health check might be reported as:

a) blood pressure – steady with very few blips between members and key agencies

b) heart – good two way communication = interactive and interested membership. The heart of the organisation from the Board and members indicates confidence going forward

c) size & shape – the organisation is growing with both inbound and allied members and mitigated with less natural attrition

d) relationships with health professionals – we have just completed annual reviews with our MoU partners and any niggles or issues have positively being resolved. We are consulted ‘with, and to’ key tourism agencies representing the private sector views

e) preventative maintenance – the implementation of Young TEC will ensure that the health and wellbeing of younger tourism professionals and exemplifies good succession planning for the future

All businesses and organisations need regular reviews to ensure that they are functioning to its optimum. The Tourism Export Council is conscious that membership to us is ‘optional’ so we have to ensure that our value to members is identified and measurable. For any relationship to be successful it requires two way engagement between parties. We facilitate business to business ‘trade’ networking opportunities and intelligence that at times does require additional investment which should be seen as investment and not cost.

If you want to have good health and be the best you can be, you might have to invest in exercise or sacrifice some of your favourite things. There are very few relationships that don’t require maintenance or investment of some kind, but one thing we do know, is that if you stop your investment in a relationship, it is alot harder to rekindle from a position of regret. To maximise membership to the Tourism Export Council we encourage participation to the Conference (and the Xmas Symposium) so that business and our relationships are maintained in a healthy manner.

So to sum up the health of the Tourism Export Council we can say, general health – excellent, but keep an eye on any slippage and ways to keep improving. The Tourism Conference this year is 20-23 August at the Copthorne Solway Hotel in Masterton. We look forward to meeting with as many members and industry friends as possible for the annual ‘health check’ of the industry!

Working smarter ‘with and for’ our valued Chinese visitors

I’ve been phoned in the past few weeks by media seeking comment re the Prime Minister’s visit to China and the China Market Review report. Basically they were wanting a comment that would ‘stir the pot’ re why we are making it easier for Chinese visitors to come to New Zealand? When they realise that TEC was part of the China Market review and do support the recommendations from the report they are disappointed and switch to the next issue of how many Chinese will come and do we have anything to fear? If you can call greater wealth for the tourism industry and the economy something to fear, then yes we’d better look out.

Our industry over the past few years has been getting use to the idea of the Chinese visitor being a part of our future. We’ve attended workshops, conferences and received data re Chinese visitor number increases. However the average New Zealander has not the opportunity to really get to know who this Chinese visitor is or be aware of its potential. So in one way, you can say that all this ‘China talk’ and the volume of visitors expected in the next few years, could be unsettling for mainstream New Zealand.

Let’s take a step back to late 80’s and early 90’s when tourism was booming with our UK, European and North American visitors. The Japanese were our fast emerging visitor and the industry and country were a little fearful of what this would mean. Part of the fear was mitigated with hospitality training programmes and schools learning basic language skills and understanding the Japanese culture, protocols and spending habits. They were a respectful visitor appreciating our scenic splendour and who enjoyed kiwi hospitality. New tourism businesses thrived and it paved the way for many of our South East Asian and now Chinese visitors.

For the tourism industry, we are fast tracking with employing Mandarin speakers, and up-skilling ourselves with language, culture and visitor experience expectations. The expected growth of the current 200,000 visitors doubling to 400,000 in the next 5 years is likely achievable and we need to embrace our new North and South East Asian visitors with the respect and acknowledgement they deserve. We have visa free status with 57 other countries around the world and the new visa arrangements New Zealand has with China is not going to create an ‘underworld of iniquity’ but enable a better quality of visitor who will deliver long term economic benefit to the country.

Yes the face of our new visitors from Asia look different from what we are use to. However when we go on holiday we want to see and experience new things with a few home comforts, be it food or shopping. We want to spend all our holiday money and return home with some great stories and memories. In this, we are just the same and I welcome all our visitors to New Zealand for the 100% kiwi experience of a lifetime!