What a beautiful time of year this is as the leaves change colour and the days are crisp and clear and stars abound in the night sky.

And along with the seasons a lot else has changed since our Jan / Feb newsletter to you, with the devastating earthquake close to home in Christchurch and then the awful disasters in Japan.

We would like to first of all say thank you to you for your responses to our communications over that time. It has been an emotionally trying time for many as well as a very challenging time for businesses.

As we move forward we need to prepare for an impact on our businesses, we are aware that many of you are seeing this already.

At the i-SITE we have seen a significant reduction in income although staff are still very busy with general enquiries which is a crucial part of the service provided to encourage travellers to stay longer in our region. We all need to keep on working at sending the message out that we are open and it is business as usual, this is crucial for not just our region but for the entire Canterbury region as you will see in the message below from CCT.

It has been heartening to observe the number of our business partners who have got their businesses up and running despite the very bleak demand conditions that exist post earthquake.

International arrivals into Christchurch in the last three weeks have been down by an average of 21%  however the key problem for Christchurch based tourism businesses is that many travellers are leaving the city immediately after arrival. The visitor downturn within the city has therefore been far worse than the arrival figures suggest.  We are noticing that even with the Christchurch commercial accommodation supply depleted by 50%, there are still many nights when we see vacancies especially in the motel sector. This clearly signals that Christchurch could be hosting more FIT travellers and we will continue to work in a determined way to attract these visitors.

The earthquake event has significantly impacted on CCT’s revenue stream as a result of the cessation of the Cathedral Square i-SITE activity and lessening of business partner income opportunities. We have needed to re-size our operations to match the new circumstances and last week I had the very sad task of terminating the employment of 40% of our staff. We are working closely with all affected staff to assist them with finding new work and I would be grateful if business partners could advise us of any work opportunities that they know about.

Our smaller team is currently focusing on a number of immediate priorities which include:       

• Establishing a new temporary i-SITE in the city.
• Securing new funding streams for recovery marketing activity later in the year.
• Updating domestic and international media on the status of our region.
• Re-formatting our website to better meet the information needs of travellers and to encourage travellers not to avoid our region.
• Ensuring that the tourism sector has good access to the Canterbury Business recovery programme initiated by CDC and CECC.
• Planning of a substantial multi market PR campaign that will accurately communicate our tourism capability and strongly promote both the Christchurch “gateway” and all of our primary tourism regions within Canterbury.
• Supporting the Air Asia launch activities and promotion of the region through Air Asia’s main distribution channels. This new service has the potential to provide a huge injection of new FIT business into our tourism economy. 

These are very tough times and I am acutely aware of the need for us to communicate regularly on tourism priorities and issues as we navigate our way out of this disaster. We are greatly appreciative of the information many of you have provided us in respect to demand and supply conditions for each sector and each region of Canterbury. This has enabled us to get a far better understanding of the scale of issues we face in the months ahead and has informed the priority of tasks for the much needed recovery work.

The resilient attitude of our region is outstanding. We look forward to working with you all on the road to recovery.

Best regards, Tim Hunter - CEO of Christchurch & Canterbury Tourism
 

Tourism operators can expect a short, sharp drop in visitor arrivals as a result of the Christchurch earthquake, events in Japan and the high New Zealand dollar, according to Goldman Sachs.

The investment bank forecasts a 10% drop in international arrivals in the second quarter of 2011, similar in magnitude to the reactions seen after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, and the global SARS scare in 2003. Economist Philip Borkin expects visitor arrivals to shrink by 0.3% for the year ending June, but to bounce back with 5.6% growth in 2012. Read more.

TIA Chief Executive Tim Cossar says while the earthquake has had an impact on short-term forward bookings, a lot of industry effort is going into ensuring international markets know that beyond Christchurch CBD and Lyttelton, the rest of New Zealand is open for business.

“Rugby World Cup 2011, new air capacity and The Hobbit are bright spots on the horizon and past experiences of major crises, including September 11, give confidence travellers won’t stay away for long.”

We have just received the January Accommodation Monitor Stats today due to delays as a result of the earthquake, so please find both December and January stats below.

The Mackenzie region continues to grow its presence and continues to do well as measured against other regions around the country, for January we had the fourth highest growth in guest nights.

Monthly highlights - Dec 2010 compared with Dec 2009:

• Guest nights up 12.6 percent to 57,406
• International guest nights up 9.8 percent to 35,055
• Domestic guest nights up 17.3 percent to 22,351
• Average length of stay rose from 1.23 nights to 1.33 nights
• Overall occupancy rate rose from 47.1 percent to 51.0 percent
• Accommodation capacity, excluding holiday parks, up 21.3 percent

Year ended highlights - year ended Dec 2010 compared with previous year:

• Guest nights up 8.9 percent to 455,022
• International guest nights up 10.1 percent to 251,138
• Domestic guest nights up 7.4 percent to 203,885
• Average length of stay up from 1.33 nights to 1.34 nights
• Overall occupancy rate up from 34.8 percent to 37.5 percent
• Accommodation capacity, excluding holiday parks, up 8.9 percent.

Monthly highlights - Jan 2011 compared with Jan 2010:

• Guest nights up 8.4 percent to 66,953
• International guest nights down 2.7 percent to 32,461
• Domestic guest nights up 21.3 percent to 34,491
• Average length of stay rose from 1.38 nights to 1.41 nights
• Overall occupancy rate rose from 57 percent to 61.4 percentThe occupancy rate, excluding holiday parks, was 64.5 percent in January 2011.
• Accommodation capacity, excluding holiday parks, up 18.4 percent.

Year ended highlights - the year ended Jan 2011 compared with the previous year:

• Guest nights up 9.0 percent to 460,185
• International guest nights up 7.8 percent to 250,235
• Domestic guest nights up 10.4 percent to 209,950
• Average length of stay up from 1.32 nights to 1.35 nights
• Overall occupancy rate up from 35.2 percent to 38.1 percent
• Accommodation capacity, excluding holiday parks, up 9.6 percent.

Ben Chapman, the trade manager for Destination Queenstown represented both Christchurch and Canterbury and the Southern Lakes at MATTA recently in Kuala Lumpur and the insights he gained were very positive.  Here’s a quick overview:

• "Best qualified leads at a show I have ever encountered
• 95% of those we talked to have purchased through Air Asia X - they are committed, they are coming and they want to know where to go and what to do
• Mostly FIT, from couples to small groups (max 16)
• Range of nights 4, 7, 10
• Mostly South Island only, mostly self drive
• Queenstown remains a focus of South Island itinerary with 2-3 night stays planned.  Milford is also a target destination
• Longer stays (7, 10+ nights), customers have researched and are highly knowledgeable about the South Island
• Good understanding of Chch earthquake - they know it’s limited to a small area and are looking for solutions around accommodation etc.
• South Island tourism will benefit from this market now and in the future and indications are that accommodation will be spread from backpackers to hotels, and transport will range from rental cars to campervans as well as domestic flights."

Great to hear such positivity coming from these relatively new and growing markets!

In March we ran a well attended workshop relating to the new TNZ website where Sara Webb provided a hands-on demonstration of how to utilise this new forum. For those of you that weren't there I thought I would just put down a wee bit of information about how, why, what and when.

First, TNZ is committed to this 'hub' approach and you need to participate. As an operator you must at the very least update your listing with more in-depth information when the new operator database is released.

And at the very next least (not sure that is grammatically correct but hopefully it gets the point across - it is very important!) you need to put up articles about your business which are a strong additional promotional tool for your business - at this stage the more articles you have, the higher your business profile on the site!

As those who attended the workshop will attest it is not difficult to put articles up but the challenges to overcome are the dual ones of:

1)  knowing what, how and why to do it; and

2) finding the time!

However, you need to do this and build it in as part of your strategy for 2011!!

With the winter fast approaching we are well underway with our winter marketing campaign, particularly into the Australian market at this stage.

Back in early February Tourism New Zealand did some generic ski marketing on Australian television. The next phase of the campaign was put on hold after the Christchurch earthquake and has just been reinstated in the market in Australia with significant additional financial input from TNZ.

We still believe we can hope for a strong ski market from Australia but we need to work really hard at the market now. The key NZ features are still here (good exchange rate, snow and long season) but the Australian’s have seen so much about the quake that we need to counteract any negativity re Canterbury. If you are not currently participating in this campaign and would like more information please contact Prue on fun@mackenziewinter.co.nz

Two Thumb Range Roundhill 2010

Please keep the information flowing our way, remember if you let us know then we can share it!   marketing@mtcook.org.nz

All the best

Phil, Prue and the team at DMCM

This issue:

• Autumn is here
• A Message from CCT
• Quake delivers short, sharp shock to tourism
• CAM Stats
• Some Feedback from the Asian market
• NewZealand.com
• Mackenzie Winter
• In Brief (sort of!)
• Local Updates
• To Finish With

Christchurch - Temporary i-SITE open - Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism has opened a temporary i-SITE at The Chateau on the Park.  All current business partners who are operational have been asked to send them100 brochures. For those who have multiple brochures, please send only 100 copies of your main brochure.

The i-SITE contact details remain the same, phone 03 379 9629  or email info@christchurchnz.com

The Chateau on the Park is a temporary location for the i-SITE and they hope to secure a more prominent central site as the city slowly opens up over the months ahead.

My NZ Facebook - Tourism New Zealand are running a social media competition asking all New Zealanders and foreign travellers to help get the message out that New Zealand is just as amazing now as it was two months ago. 

The campaign is being driven through Tourism New Zealand’s 100% Pure New Zealand Facebook page and calls on people to photograph or film themselves enjoying a favourite tourism experience or suggesting a pursuit, and then to post their picture or movie on the Facebook competition. 

The person whose photo or film receives the most votes will receive a free flight to bring a friend to New Zealand, while people voting on the images from overseas and considering a trip to New Zealand will be entered in a draw to win flights for two.  

The more photos or film the better. If you could encourage travellers to upload a recent photo or video that highlights them participating in a favourite tourism experience it all helps the cause. 

The photo can be anything... a mountain bike ride, relaxing at a lake or hiking in the hills, exploring our great museums and galleries or simply enjoying good wine, food and company at any one of our great cafes, restaurants or wineries – you know how it goes - the activities and experiences are endless.

The 100% Pure New Zealand Facebook page currently has in excess of 300,000 friends, providing a great resource to profile the wide range of experiences we have on offer. 

Check out www.facebook.com/purenewzealand for all the details and help spread the word that we’re open and travellers are having fun!

Glacier Kayaking and Snow Shoeing is still all go with a huge amount of big icebergs still on the Tasman Lake and lots of new snow for snow shoeing on the Tasman Glacier. 

Ski Areas Opening dates have been set for this year....
Mt Dobson - 9 July 2011
Roundhill - 9 July 2011
Ohau - 26 June 2011 

Alpine Springs Ice Rink is all set to open this Friday 15 April. The staff have been working hard getting the rink ready to provide our wonderful variety of winter sports - ice hockey, curling, figure skating, learn to skate and general public skating. Time to don the gear for your chosen pursuit and head on down!

First Year Player 2010

Roundhill have been undertaking significant alterations to their ski area buildings. 2011 will see a new ticket office, totally reconstructed day hut and relocation of buildings from the learners slope to allow for even more back of the car bbq space.

Mt Dobson is giving people the opportunity to give skiing a go for free with the fixed grip rope tow on the learners slope being available for people to use without purchasing a pass.

Rugby World Cup local events in Fairlie are still scheduled at this stage for 17 September. We shall provide you with further information as events are firmed up. If you are doing anything around this time please do let us know, marketing@mtcook.org.nz. Rugby New Zealand 2011 has announced that three of the five rescheduled Christchurch RWC 11 pool matches will remain in the South Island. Nelson, Dunedin and Invercargill will each host an additional match. The remaining two matches have been reallocated to Wellington and North Harbour. The two quarter-finals due to be played in Christchurch will be played at Eden Park. Read more.

A story, reproduced in Keith Ready’s free e-newsletter www.agiftofinspiration.com.au attracted my eye. It comes from Steven Covey’s book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’.

Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter asked for a job with a timber merchant, and he got it. The pay was really good and so were the work conditions. For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do his best.

His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work. The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees.

'Congratulations,' the boss said. 'Go on that way!'

Very motivated from the boss’s words, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but he only could bring 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder, but he only could bring 10 trees. Day after day he was bringing less and less trees.

'I must be losing my strength,' the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and apologised, saying that he could not understand what was going on.

'When was the last time you sharpened your axe?' the boss asked.

'Sharpen! I had no time to sharpen my axe. I’ve been too busy cutting trees. . !'

Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don't take time to ‘sharpen the axe.' In today's world, it seems that everyone is busier than ever, but less happy that ever. Why is that? Could it be that we have forgotten how to stay 'sharp'. There's nothing wrong with activity and hard work. But we should not get so busy that we neglect the truly important things in life, like our personal life, taking time to rediscover ourselves, giving more time for our family, taking time to read, etc.

We all need time to relax, to think and meditate, to learn and grow. If we don't take time to ‘sharpen the axe', we will become dull and lose our effectiveness.