May Boosted by Queenstown Marketing Strategies

Marketing strategies to boost the May shoulder season visitor numbers are producing results, according to Destination Queenstown General Manager- Marketing, Mark Frood.

The Queenstown-Lakes/Central Otago region attracted 17% more domestic visitors and 19% more Australian visitors this May, compared to May 2005 and Mr Frood believes much of that growth can be attributed to a series of campaigns initiated by Destination Queenstown.

“Our main focus into the domestic market at this time of year is the Do More in May campaign.  We’re now seeing that campaign growing domestic guest nights year on year.  Do More in May dovetails into an Australian campaign carried out through the online Fairfax network. This too is producing strong results.”  

Destination Queenstown has also focused marketing efforts into the conference and incentive niche which travels mostly in the shoulder season months, stays longer and spends more than the leisure visitors. 

Mr Frood says the Australian, domestic and convention campaigns are each overarched by strong strategic direction and supported by an active visiting media programme.

The primary purpose of the Do More in May campaign is to build towards a widely held awareness that Queenstown is a great place to visit in the autumn/early winter shoulder season.  One of the measures of success of the campaign is the number of visits to the Destination Queenstown website: www.queenstown-nz.co.nz.

Mr Frood said that by that measure, Do More in May is highly successful.

“Each year visits to our website have increased phenomenally.  Last year during the autumn our website visits grew by 36%, and this year we have nearly doubled that with a 63% increase on visits to the DQ website.”

“The growth in visitor numbers is another performance indicator and those figures are telling us that the message is getting through.  We’re proud of the results which are way ahead of the national growth averages and ahead of our own targets.

“People are realising that autumn is a beautiful time to visit, the full range of activities is on offer with fantastic dining, sunny days and cool nights. It’s quieter so there’s more space to stretch out and unwind in a setting unrivalled in Australia and popular in New Zealand.”

Destination Queenstown specifically targets domestic and Australian media during autumn.

“Media has a much greater influence in motivating travel than advertising ever can, it provides us with the medium to carry our key messages into the marketplace.” Mr Frood said.

“Building our profile at this time of year and focusing on conference and incentive business travellers will contribute to the shaping of Queenstown as the ultimate four season lake and alpine destination.”

Do More in May was a joint venture with Air New Zealand and supported by American Express ® and Europcar.

The table below shows the guest night figures for May for the Queenstown-Lakes/Central Otago region:

Source: Statistics New Zealand