Ski season campaign targets Aussies

5/02/10

Tourism New Zealand’s new early-bird ski campaign, targeting Australian skiers and snowboarders, kicks off this Sunday.

Television commercials will run in Sydney and Brisbane for the next two weeks, encouraging keen skiers to get in quick and make bookings, a media release from Tourism NZ says.

 

Tourism New Zealand chief executive Kevin Bowler says the early campaign aims to repeat last year’s success.

 

“Last year was the first year Tourism New Zealand and the industry went into market with an early ski campaign and we had a strong ski season, with the industry here reporting an influx of Australians on the slopes,” says Kevin Bowler.

 

Australia is the largest single international market for skiers and snow boarders into New Zealand. Last year approximately 70,000 Australians hit the slopes.

 

Australian holiday arrivals over the winter season of June, July and August for 2009 were up 28 percent on the same three months of 2008 – it was the first year New Zealand had gone into Australia with ski ads as early as February.

 

Tourism New Zealand's ski television commercial is being supported by the Ski Tourism Marketing Network (Ski TMN) which is undertaking advertising and promotion work in the weeks following the airing of the TV commercial.

 

SkiTMN spokesperson Trish May says the relationship between SkiTMN and Tourism New Zealand has never been closer or more effective.

 

“We’re anticipating some strong competitor activity this year and as Australian economic confidence grows there could be a tendency for Australians to consider long-haul ski holidays. So, it is important that the industry keeps a clear focus on winter ski holidays to New Zealand for 2010,” says Trish May.

 

The early-bird ski campaign is part of the Joint Venture funding collaboration between Tourism New Zealand, the Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) and the SkiTMN.

 

The Joint Venture Fund will see $5 million of Government funds matched by RTOs and commercial operators to provide a $10 million marketing fund in Australia.

 

The Tourism New Zealand ski commercials will drive viewers to the Australian gateway page of its consumer site - www.newzealand.com – which will house promotions for early bird ski travel deals.

 

“The addition of Joint Venture funding has allowed SkiTMN to extend the reach of its campaign beyond the traditional targets of New South Wales and Queensland, to now include Victoria. Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism are also running JV winter activity to leverage both Tourism New Zealand and the Ski TMN’s campaign,” says Kevin Bowler.