Lake Wanaka TourismAnnual Report

2018/19

Printed on 100% recycled paper

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WINNER OF THE BREAKTHROUGH DESTINATION AWARD- Mumbrella, Travel Marketing Awards

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INTRODUCTION03. Chairman’s Report 04. General Manager’s Report

SUMMARIES 05. Performance Summary 06. Visitor Snapshot07. Performance08. Summary of Key Strategies

PROMOTING OUR SHOULDER SEASONS09. Winter10. Epicurean 11. Bike12. Trade13. Media and PR

i-SITE14. i-SITE Performance

FINANCIALSSee separate document

CONTENTS

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Another year has slipped by us and we will be finding ourselves firmly in the future with 2020 soon upon us.

The 2018/2019 year has been another highly successful one for James and the team at LWT not only winning coveted awards but also producing continuing Wanaka’s success on the tourism front. I sincerely congratulate them on a sterling effort as I know it isn’t easy!

This success isn’t just through unfettered growth. The LWT team have worked hard to ensure that we aim for higher yielding, longer staying guests. This isn’t an easy task in a world that seems hell bent on getting faster with a strong desire for bite sized experiences. But we have heard the community and their concerns and we are all working hard to satisfy those.

Many of you have attended our regional meetings where it has been fantastic to share a drink and discuss some of the issues that you are facing and to see where LWT might be able to help. I would encourage you to come along next time, if nothing else you can get a free drink!

There is a lot of discussion at present about a slowdown in the tourism market. Everything goes in cycles and we have had a period of massive growth so it is only natural for things to settle a bit. I think that this may be very beneficial to us in the industry in the longer term too. Sure we may have to tighten our belts a little over the short term, but perhaps, if we can tell

the tourism story a bit better, people out there in the community will start to realise what a massive benefit tourism can be.

We all work incredibly hard to bring all of the benefits from our industry back to our people and our place and I hope that maybe some of this industry’s detractors may see the benefits more clearly after a time of potential recession.

I would also like to acknowledge some significant milestones. James Helmore has been working for LWT for 10 years now. He has worked extremely hard and is outstandingly passionate about our town and our industry. There have been ups and downs as with any job, but James should be extremely proud of his achievements and for carrying such a successful team with him. Thank you and well done!

Also to both Nadia Ellis and Bridgit Parker, who have worked on the LWT board for 6 years now and as the rules state they must step down. Thank you both for your tireless efforts and passionate discussions around the board table. You have done a wonderful service for LWT and for the Tourism industry as a whole. You will be missed!

Good luck for the coming year and all the best!

Mark MorrisonChairman

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

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It has been a very good year for tourism in the Wanaka region. Visitor satisfaction increased to 63% (net promoter score) with the Wanaka region ranked in the top 5 of 170 destinations surveyed globally. Visitor spend hit record levels up 5% to $574m, this sustains business and jobs, across food & beverage, accommodation, retail, activities, transport and automotive sectors. And is testament to the quality of experience and the genuine warmth of welcome visitors receive.

All in all a great result achieved in an environment of slowing growth. Recent demand has been impacted by global challenges, which influence the ability and willingness to travel. Arrivals from New Zealand’s 6 core visitor markets are up 0.4% while secondary and emerging markets show greater variability. A trend to note is growing consumer awareness and concern around carbon emissions which has the potential to influence future travel demand.

The rapid growth in visitor numbers and resident population (both doubling in the past 6 years) has created pressures we are all experiencing. These highlight the need to effectively plan for future growth and invest in a timely manner, while maintaining the ‘small town’ feel that makes Wanaka and the Wanaka region a great place to live and a great place to visit. The master planning process that QLDC has started should provide a good framework to guide future growth although relies on the quality of community feedback.

LWT’s primary objective is to shape visitor demand, attracting high value visitors, smoothing out the effects of seasonality through marketing initiatives across consumer, trade and media channels. We target a diversified market mix and prioritise NZ and Australia as they have greatest ability to travel throughout the year, their carbon footprint is lower and they relate more closely to our identity and values.

Core marketing activity targeted visitors to travel in winter, autumn and spring, with marketing highlights are outlined later in the report. Including being awarded a prestigious Australasian Travel Marketing Award for our ski campaign. Congratulations and thanks to the team for their hard work this year. Tess, Gizelle, Geoff and Nicola are widely acknowledged as industry leading specialists sought after by other RTO’s for their advice and we are fortunate to have a team of this calibre.

We worked with Wanaka businesses to improve capability through courses, workshops and coaching. A highlight was the strong business uptake on the Google DMO program (LWT was the first RTO in the South Pacific to pioneer this program) which delivered

impressive and tangible results. Views on this content now equals the views on our website – over 2.3 million!

New initiatives strengthened our advocacy and communications. LWT and Destination Queenstown collaborated to create a new strategic advisory board to focus on district wide issues relating to tourism and share insight, which included regular meetings with QLDC’s Mayor, CEO and key tourism councillors. We also held board meetings around the region where business, community and council representatives were invited to come together to discuss key issues.

Over the past year membership increased by 13, and it is exciting to see the quality of new businesses taking advantage of the opportunities that tourism creates.

Visitors continue to seek out the i-SITE for their expert local knowledge, connecting them with the best things to see and do in our region and beyond, although this is changing as visitors also utilise online channels to find information. Jaimee and her team have done a fantastic job in converting visitor interest, increasing sales of Wanaka product, supporting member businesses.

Our strategic plan Towards 2028 has four core priorities; identity, balance, potential and kiatiakitanga which will guide future direction. These have been informed by member feedback in workshops instigated by Lake Wanaka Tourism in mid-2018 identifying key opportunities and challenges arising from the success of our visitor economy.

TIA’s Tourism Sustainability Commitment has received great industry support around New Zealand and here in the Wanaka region, representing 10% of total numbers. Visitors are increasingly seeking out businesses that operate in a sustainable manner, balancing economic, environment, visitor and community.

The Chairman and board have had a big year and have done a great job on your behalf. Thanks for your support and guidance.

The Wanaka region is a highly appealing place to visit and live and we all have a duty of care. As our region continues to grow, LWT aims to connect members with relevant information so you can make informed decisions on the key issues. It is only by working together on the common ground can we create a future that positively benefits us all.

James HelmoreGeneral Manager

GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT

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New 10 year goals were set in 2012 as aspirational targets to drive our visitor economy forward to 2022.

They targeted a 54% increase in nights, from a 24% increase in arrivals and 23% increase in stay length, to generate a 35% increase in spend.

All key indicators experienced year on year growth when comparing with YE June 2018 vs 2019, except stay length.

Guest nights & arrivals continue to exceed 10-year goal targets in 2018/19 with only stay length down.

*All data for YE June 2019.

PROGRESS TOWARDS 10 YEAR GOALS2018/19 PERFORMANCE SUMMARY

NIGHTS+0.7%

Target: 902,110Actual: 947,577

STAY LENGTH-3.7%

Target: 2.6Actual: 2.1

ARRIVALS+4.5%

Target: 346,625Actual: 455,033

SPEND+5%

574mil

PERFORMANCE SUMMARY

VALUE OVER VOLUME &SPREADING VISITOR DEMAND

WINTER165 million Spend: 13% Nights: 7.2%

SUMMER175 million Spend: -1%

Nights: -6.6%

SPRING140 million Spend: 6%

Nights: 7.3%

AUTUMN95 million Spend: 4%

Nights: 1.8%

Goals were refined to focus on increasing visitor spend at a greater rate than nights and spreading visitor demand to smooth out seasonality effects.

For YE June 2019 spend increased at a greater rate than nights.*Nights = arrivals x stay length

VISITORS RANK THE WANAKA REGION IN THE TOP 5 OF 170 GLOBAL DESTINATIONS REVIEWED WITH A NET PROMOTER SCORE OF 63%

YE JUNE 2019 VISITORS INJECTED $574 MILLION ($1.6 MILLION A DAY)INTO THE WANAKA ECONOMY - A 5% INCREASE ON 2018

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PERFORMANCE

2.3 million page views + 10%Organic search +18% Social media referrals + 21.7% Referrals from newsletters + 59.96% Stories on Wanaka.co.nz generated over 100,000 views up 31%

Winner in the Breakthrough Destination category at the Mumbrella Travel Marketing Awards.

Australia’s only dedicated travel marketing awards attracts entries from the very top agencies across PR, media and advertising teams worldwide, with the 2019 awards the best work seen in recent history. With categories across PR, media, creative and brand, leading industry experts serve as jurors, to decide the industry’s standout work from the past year.This category seeks to recognise a destination (of any size) that has made a significant impact within the travel industry achieving substantial recognition across the industry or in the media by releasing a cut- through campaign.

Shortlisted as finalists in the Best Media Strategy category for the LWT #SKIWANAKA campaign, alongside UM with Droga 5 for Tourism Australia’s $100 million campaign Dundee: Son of a Legend Returns.”

WEBSITE

AWARDS

DESTINATION MANAGEMENT

STRONG COMPELLING

BRAND

TARGET A BALANCED PORTFOLIO

OF MARKETS

COMPREHENSIVE ONLINE PRESENCE

EVENTSTARGET WINTER

EXTEND REACH THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS

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Key marketing strategies in the 2012-2022 Strategic Plan act to guide our long-term marketing direction.

Our mission is to promote the Wanaka region to the world as a four-season destination, inspiring people to visit, stay and share.

Core marketing activity covers our identity, reach, and target markets across consumer, trade and media channels – either directly influencing people or via travel resellers.

• Identity – our brand, storytelling and associated collateral

• Reach – our online activity website, social media and database

• Markets – our priority markets of NZ, Australia, traditional and emerging long-haul

This provides a flexible operational framework to adapt and respond to market demand and progress initiatives towards our 10 year goals. These were set in 2012 with the objective to grow Wanaka’s visitor economy and improve business viability by increasing numbers, nights, stay length and spend.

SUMMARY OF KEY STRATEGIES

STRATEGIES 2018-19

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WINTER

325K video views 22% increase to ski/Snow landing pages48% increase in referrals to partner pages

The 2019 Pre-Season campaign produced some great results, especially boosting brand awareness and engagement through excellent creative with 92% completion rates

GROWING WINTER

CHOOSE YOUR WANAKA WINTER 2019 PRE-SEASON SKI CAMPAIGN

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EPICUREAN

Neat Places – a partnership that produced the second edition of an ‘independent’ dining, food, wine & shopping guide. Featuring 26 local businesses with 10,000 copies distributed throughout NZ and 10,000 copies in Wanaka.

SHOWCASING OUR FOOD AND WINE

Along with Stuff.co.nz articles and blog stories on their website and social channels. 289,706 impressions and 20,000 page views

KiaOra magazine 4 page feature on Wanaka’s food & wine.

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BIKING

Partnership with People On Bikes TV series, which aired on TNNZ channel 1. Wanaka featured in an episode which averagely had over 75,000 views. As well as being hosted ‘On Demand’, AirNZ inflight entertainment, Health TV and other international channels.

TELLING OUR BIKING STORY

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TRADE

Hosted over 100+ international travel agents on 17 trade famils from USA, Europe, SE Asia and South America.

Another very successful TRENZ in Rotorua with a focus on meeting key traditional Western markets to encourage high value visitors to stay longer.Sales mission to USA with Tourism New Zealand. Visited 4 x Mid-West cities and trained over 300 x agents.

CONTINUING OUR GREAT PRESENCE

Kia Ora South trade event in China with Christchurch Airport trained over 600+ agents across 3 x cities.Kiwi Link events in USA, UK & Europe, India, South America and South East Asia as Southern Lakes Tourism (marketing alliance with Destination Queenstown & Destination Fiordland).RTO event in Australia and met 25 key travel wholesalers. Attended RTO / Inbound Operator event in Auckland, 45 appointments with key IBO partners. Plus ongoing sales calls to IBOs.

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MEDIA & PR

“IF I ONLY HAD TWO DOLLARS LEFT, I’D SPEND ONE DOLLAR ON PR.” – Bill Gates

EAV $33,931,672We work with the right people at the right time to deliver genuine results.

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i-SITE PERFORMANCE The Wanaka i-SITE Visitor Centre is operated by Wharf Development Ltd, a limited liability company 100% owned by Lake Wanaka Tourism.

The i-SITE is overseen by a separate independent board responsible for its governance.

It is setup to protect LWT members and the LWT board against any actual or perceived conflict of interest, or benefiting unfairly or exerting any undue influence.

As a commercial venture, it is entirely self-funding, returning a budgeted surplus to Lake Wanaka Tourism each year to help fund marketing activity.

The Manager of the i-SITE reports to the i-SITE board on a quarterly basis, and to the General Manager of Lake Wanaka Tourism on a fortnightly basis.

The Wanaka i-SITE licences its brand from i-SITE NZ (owned by Tourism NZ) to be part of the network.

WANAKA i-SITE PERFORMANCE FYE JUNE 2019:

YEAR END JUNE 2018% Percentage change on previous year

2017 - 2018 2018 - 2019

REVENUE +8% -6%

EXPENSES +4% +16%

NET POSITION +49% -50%