16/12/2009
Small tourism operators in the Lakes District and Southland have been given a boost by a new Tourism Exchange New Zealand service, providing the technology and presence to give them a chance against the larger players.
“Real Journeys and Southern Discoveries have massive advertising budgets but we have to be clever with our marketing to compete with them,” says Cruise Te Anau owner/skipper Peter Kirker, who offers a variety of boutique cruises, private charters and walking track transport for exploring the hidden beauty and tranquility of Lake Te Anau and the Fiordland National Park.
“I’m always scheming something, thinking of different angles to try and Tourism Exchange will give us a foot in the door of all-important distributors,” explains Kirker. “Before, we could have flown to Auckland to knock on doors and come away with nothing. With Tourism Exchange we’ve got our foot in the door without having had to do anything but sign up.”
Tourism Exchange’s regional development manager for the Lakes District and Southland is Kylie Walker. She is excited to see how the system can help small operators compete on a bigger scale and the impact this will have on the region.
“We’re keen to showcase all of our region’s fantastic tourism providers, large and small,” says Ms Walker. “Tourism Exchange is the one-stop-shop for retailers and resellers that uses industry-wide technology to provide a neutral ‘business to business’ marketplace, allowing tourism operators to contract and transact in real time.”
One of the key benefits of online, real-time transactions is the enablement of an online merchant facility. This facility enables operators to take credit card payments online at the time of booking, but also has the cash-flow benefits of immediate settlement into the operators’ bank accounts.
“We didn’t have credit card facilities before so that’s a big advantage for us – with no extra costs for secure booking pages,” explains Kirker, who has already secured two international bookings through the system. “And the next day the money is in our bank account for bookings months out. Before Tourism Exchange we were doing paper bookings that were time-consuming.”
“You can spend millions of dollars and get no return or $1 and get millions in return. Tourism Exchange is still just beginning but if you’re not in on the ground floor, you get left behind, and for minimal outlay I can see a lot of benefits and advantages for our small company,” explains Kirker. “You don’t want to wait until it’s started to get involved.”
