NZ tourism scores 100,000 YouTube hits
16 Apr 2009
A novel tourism initiative that allows international visitors to ‘rave’ about their New Zealand holiday experience on YouTube has reached more than 100,000 people.
As part of a UK marketing campaign, Tourism New Zealand has set up a mobile studio - called ‘the Collection Point’ - which is travelling throughout the country recording short video diaries from international tourists.
Each holiday ‘rave’ is edited then posted by Tourism New Zealand on social networking sites. The video raves have been extremely popular with visitors and viewers.
The initiative has also been highlighted by the UK’s Sunday Times as one of the ‘ten most ingenious offers’ from the travel industry during the recession.
Effective marketing
Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton says the Collection Point has proven its worth as a cost-effective way to capture the value of personal recommendations.
"Social media is used by people from all walks of life to connect with people back home while they are travelling. Add to this the fact that word-of-mouth is one of the most effective marketing tools to promote a destination, and the 100,000 views milestone shows that the Collection Point has really proven its worth.
"The fact that this has also been recognised by one of the most prestigious newspapers in Britain has given us an extra publicity boost in our target market, and is the icing on the cake!" he said.
International collection
More than 1300 videos have been uploaded by travellers from destinations including Australia, the US, UK, Japan, Germany and Canada since the mobile studio began travelling around New Zealand in December 2008. Some videos have been viewed over 250 times.
Tourism New Zealand has worked closely with regional tourism organisations as the mobile studio has made its way around the country.
By the time the nationwide tour is completed at the end of April, it will have visited 40 New Zealand towns from the Caitlins in the south of the South Island to Cape Reinga in the far north.
Background: The Collection Point
The mobile studio is the second phase of Tourism New Zealand’s ‘What Do You Say UK?’ campaign, which launched in the UK last September.
The campaign is based on research that shows word-of-mouth recommendations are among the strongest motivators for British travellers when they are thinking about a holiday in New Zealand.
The campaign is believed to be the first time a national tourism organisation has used real traveller testimonials in its advertising.
The mobile studio has been created in a converted shipping container and is being transported around New Zealand on a 10-tonne flat-bed truck.
Visitors’ video diary messages are hosted on a specially-created Tourism New Zealand YouTube channel, where friends, family and the public can view them. Visitors with their own Facebook profile can opt to have the video diary hosted on that site as well.
The whole process, from filming the video diary to posting on the internet, takes about 20 minutes allowing Tourism New Zealand to film 20 tourists per day.
Check out: New Zealand video raves
More information:
Tourist buzz gets around New Zealand
Tourists get chance to rave about New Zealand
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