Hawke’s Bay regional website finalist in national awards

27 July 2018

Hawke’s Bay’s new visitor website has been named as a finalist in the New Zealand Tourism Awards, recognising the success of a regional approach to engaging prospective visitors.

The website is managed by Hawke’s Bay Tourism, in partnership with Central Hawke’s Bay District Council, Hastings District Council, Napier City Council, and Wairoa District Council, and presents Hawke’s Bay as a single region made up of complementary experiences.

Hawke’s Bay Tourism General Manager Annie Dundas says the recognition demonstrates the value of taking a collaborative approach to marketing Hawke’s Bay as a visitor destination.

“By directing prospective visitors to a single point – www.hawkesbaynz.com – we are able to present a more coherent and cohesive Hawke’s Bay visitor story,” says Ms Dundas.

“Each main centre still has its own section on the website to showcase their tourism experiences – but we’ve even gone as far as calling them Hawke’s Bay’s Neighbourhoods to ensure prospective visitors understand we are one united region to be explored.”

In the period since go-live at the start of November 2017, the site has hosted nearly 20% more visitors than in the same period of the year prior. Particularly impressive growth has come from those people searching from - Wellington up 90%, Hamilton up 48%, and Taupo up 30% - areas within the important drive market for a Hawke’s Bay holiday.

Ms Dundas says one of the key innovations of the new website, the Hawke’s Bay Playlist, has also proven to be popular, with more than 1,500 already created by visitors to the site. Playlists are curated lists of favourite content from throughout the website, whether that be tourism operator listings, natural attractions, events, or even articles.

“As well as visitors creating Hawke’s Bay Playlists to plan their holidays, we’re also seeing locals preparing Playlists for visiting friends and family, as well as tourism businesses creating Playlists to send to arriving guests – all of which encourages visitors to stay longer and do more.

“Playlists can also be mapped, shared via Facebook and email, and you can even request assistance from an i-SITE Visitor Centre to book a Playlist – we’re making planning and booking a Hawke’s Bay holiday as fun and easy as possible.”

Ms Dundas adds that the website will be continually evolving, with new functionality under development including a Chinese language version, as well as a regular stream of editorial content produced by Hawke’s Bay Tourism staff as well as guest writers who are subject matter experts.

Hawke’s Bay businesses looking to benefit from the region’s growing visitor economy, currently valued at $639million annually, are encouraged to create a listing on hawkesbaynz.com.

“With more than 350,000 website sessions in the past 12 months, there’s no better digital platform to profile your business among people looking to visit Hawke’s Bay,” says Ms Dundas.

The New Zealand Tourism Awards winners will be announced at an event in Christchurch on 6 September.

hawkesbaynz.com highlights in period November 1, 2017 – July 26, 2018

• 19% year-on-year increase in total website visitation (versus November 1, 2016 – July 26, 2017)

• Strong growth among visitors from key regions, including Wellington (up 90%), Hamilton (up 47%), Taupo (up 30%), Auckland (up 19%), Tauranga (up 17%) and Palmerston North (up 17%).

• The What’s On Guide recorded an increase of 300% over the previous Events section, while visits to the Accommodation Guide rose 54% over its predecessor.

• Among the Neighbourhood pages, Napier and Hastings were standouts with increases of 519% and 417% respectively.

ENDS

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