Taking Taupō to the big smoke
Taupō’s tourism industry took its story to Auckland earlier this month.
The annual Taupō Product Showcase is hosted by Destination Great Lake Taupō and this year 18 tourism businesses went to Auckland to meet leading travel trade buyers and agents.
The travel showcase, held at Auckland’s Hilton Hotel, is a business to business event where the tourism businesses get the chance to promote their product to travel buyers, engage with travel media and network with other tourism professionals.
DGLT travel trade executive Géraldine Morisse said she was excited to bring some new product to market.
Those new products included hotel accommodation and tasting tours in a newly opened gin distillery.
The main target of the event were inbound tour operators, mainly product managers and travel consultants who are experts in selling New Zealand to their trade distribution partners or directly to consumers, Morisse says.
There were 141 attendees registered, including Tourism New Zealand, iSite representatives and travel media.
“This showcase was a market, a trade show, a training opportunity and a networking opportunity all rolled into one,” says DGLT general manager Patrick Dault.
“It’s all about creating passionate advocates for the Taupō region and our products. We believe that by growing product awareness and knowledge, we’re equipping travel sellers to better sell our region with the aim of increasing share of total visitor nights and continued growth of international visitor spend.”
He says it’s a “a talk-fest” to increase awareness of the variety of tourism products on sale in the Taupō region, and to increase knowledge and enthusiasm for selloing Taupō.
“Ultimately we expect to see some worthwhile business opportunities come out of this occasion, if not on the day but as a result of making key connections.”
The operators who attended are: 5 Mile Distilling, Adrift Tongariro, AJ Hackett Taupō Bungy & Swing, Backyard Tours, Escape Aviation, Hilton Hotels - North Island, Hukafalls Jet, Kinloch Manor & Villas, Orakei Korako Geothermal Valley, Quest Taupō, Rapids Jet, Suncourt Hotel, Taupō Sailing Adventures, Taupō Tandem Skydiving, The Haka Shop Ltd, Tongariro Expeditions, Tongariro National Trout Centre and Whakapapa Holdings.