Destination Coromandel targets the Australian Market

Destination Coromandel targets the Australian Market

On 8th-18th September 2013, Destination Coromandel along with Grand Mercure Puka Park, Coromandel Adventures and Waihi Beach Lodge travelled to Australia for sales calls and reservation training with selected Australian wholesalers and inbound travel agents. The objective of the trip was to get tour operators from The Coromandel in front of reservation staff and product managers to increase awareness and bookings of The Coromandel.

The Coromandel representatives travelled with Tourism Bay of Plenty and five of their operators to effectivley promote our adjoining regions.

Over the course of ten days The Coromandel was very well received and agents expressed a high level of interest, but overall there was a lack of knowledge about many of our products available on The Coromandel. This can be attributed to a high turnover of agents and illustrates the need for export ready operators to establish and maintain relationships with agents.

Destination Coromandel's International Marketing Coordinator Luci Williams believes the sales calls are crucial to growing visitation from our key international market, "The benefits were evident from the beginning, with agents loading operators into their booking systems upon arrival. This means more product from The Coromandel in their booking systems."

Tourism businesses from The Coromandel included Coromandel Adventures, Grand Mercure Puka Park and Waihi Beach Lodge. Sarni Hart of Coromandel Adventures has already received bookings and enquiries as a result of the trip, "We appreciate the guidance and systems Destination Coromandel have put in place to help us grow our international market. I would recommend any other businesses looking to grow their Australian visitation consider this approach."

The Australian sales call initiative follows a road show to Auckland where Destination Coromandel and local businesses visited inbound operators and the Tourism New Zealand international media team. Miss Williams has since been recognised at a regional tourism conference winning the annual International Media Programme award from Tourism New Zealand for her exceptional service in hosting media.

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