Hawke's Bay tourism offering impress industry players

Hundreds of the brand new Zealand tourism industry’s main players have already been left impressed with Hawke’s Bay’s “sophisticated” visitor attractions, following conclusion of the Tourism Export Council of New Zealand’s annual conference.

“All up there have been about 320 delegates plus they have already been wined and dined and shown Hawke’s Bay perfectly,” Hawke’s Bay Tourism general manager Annie Dundas said.

“I assume the outcome for all of us, is that people have put Hawke’s Bay firmly back on the map with most of them who haven’t gone to Hawke’s Bay for some time. These perceptions and attitudes have shifted completely.

“The feedback via them now say how sophisticated offerings are.

“They hadn’t realised the depth of products we’ve here. So, really for all of us now to help keep following up using them to make sure they begin to contract a little more products and obviously include Hawke’s Bay in more of these itineraries.”

Tourism Export Council of New Zealand leader Judy Chen said the theme of the two-day conference, held at the Napier War Memorial Conference Centre, centered on “future-proofing the”.

“Historically tourism operators have increased to the task of change, however the speed where its happening through technological advances means they can not afford to be complacent about what’s ahead.

“Key global trends affecting tourism which were discussed included: climate change, the rise of the ethical consumer, changing infrastructure and demographics, the healthcare revolution, the changing world order and social media marketing.

“There’s been a lot of movement in how exactly we market and what you can expect with a solid shift from large tour groups, to smaller more intimate ones and individual itineraries being planned by tour operators even.

“The massive growth in visitor numbers does mean the once, relied upon highly, tour series bookings are longer the cornerstone of hotel or visitor attraction business no. This implies tour operators are actually competing for space in tourism hot spots instead of getting the run of these.”