New Zealand Tourism Seeks Help From Social Networking

Marketing is all about using correct media channels to deliver specific message(s) to the correct set of audience in the most cost effective manner. Speed and accuracy determine the success rate of the marketing campaign, a need that has attracted the New Zealand tourism towards social network sites to communicate their latest marketing campaign.

As part of the strategy, a mobile recording studio is doing rounds within the country to capture visitor’s stories and upload them over the Internet.

A 22 year old student from Glasgow, Dave Allan is the newest tourism ambassador, and his is the first of 3,000 video clips which will be recorded across the country. The recording will take place in a specially designed mobile film studio on the back of a 10-tonne flat deck truck.

Social networks will play a role in accommodating each of the clips for interested viewers to watch them. Websites like YouTube and Facebook are to be used heavily to promote these clips online, which will also be e-mailed to the person’s family and friends.

Chief executive of Tourism NZ said that the message goes to someone who actually listens to the clips, in a hope that there would be several viewers once the videos are broadcasted.

John Key, the new Toursim Minister of New Zealand said that the economic crisis along with Britain’s plan to hike air travel tax for long haul flights signal difficult times for the travel industry.

Considering how tourism is severely hit world over, and that visiting New Zealand is too costly, it would be interesting to see how the industry uses social networking to deal with this daunting economic fiasco.