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Planning & Information Sources
Planning Overall, the amount and quality of planning undertaken influences holiday satisfaction. Sixty-eight per cent of visitors make their decision to travel to New Zealand six months prior to arriving. The research showed that visitors who used more information sources when planning their holiday had a more satisfying New Zealand experience. The three most used sources of information for choosing and planning New Zealand holidays are travel guides/books, friends and family, and newzealand.com. Travel guides/books become more important once visitors begin planning their holiday. Information Sources Visitors are satisfied with the information sources available to plan a holiday to New Zealand, with friends and family, and travel guides/books averaging at least 7.9 out of a possible 10. Tourism New Zealand’s website, newzealand.com, stayed about the same on previous research, with the average satisfaction rating remaining at 7.7 out of 10. Visitor satisfaction with i-SITEs has decreased slightly from 8.7 out of a possible 10 in 2006/07 to 8.6 in 2007/08. Making Bookings The 2007/08 research showed that visitors book their flights to New Zealand through various methods and sources. Over a half (55%) of visitors use a travel agent to book international flights, while 34 per cent book flights directly through the airline and 13 per cent use another source. This does vary by country, with visitors from the US and Australia more likely to book direct with the airline, whereas Japanese and Chinese visitors are significantly more likely to book international flights through a travel agent. |