Tourism Exchange Helps New Operators

16/12/2009

Tourism providers in the Upper South Island are benefiting from the brand new Tourism Exchange system, which allows them to contract and transact in real time. New operators in Nelson are taking advantage of this online marketplace, without having to spend large capital outlays to tap into a pool of knowledge previously unavailable to them.

“We sold up our business in Dunedin three years ago and built Wharetutu on Kina Ridge in Nelson,” say owners Jenny and Stan Whitty. “We wanted to be close to our daughter and to retire where the sun was. We’re fairly new to the industry and we don’t want to spend our semi-retirement bogged down in admin!”

Wharetutu is an architecturally designed and purpose-built boutique bed and breakfast in Tasman – beautifully set on two acres of land and offering uninterrupted views of mountains, vineyards, orchards and peaceful countryside.

“Tourism Exchange will save us having to go to the bank to pay in the old-fashioned credit card slips or cash – it’s 11km away! With the Tourism Exchange online booking management system, the bookings come to us completed and paid in full. It will really take out a lot of the everyday administration work. And we’ll have the peace of mind knowing there are forward-bookings in the system, that are fully paid. We have the use of that money even before the guest arrives,” says Jenny, who believes many local tourism providers are 10% down on occupancy or have their lead times shortened by the lingering tourism downturn.

“The timing is perfect for Tourism Exchange to help businesses extend their market to get more bookings, which is really what you need to do now, but with really no set-up costs. Many of my clients were paying 4.95% plus for their online merchant facilities.  Tourism Exchange has worked with our banking partner to offer a much lower merchant rate, so we’re saving around 100 local operators quite a bit – that’s very rewarding,” says Stewart Milne, Tourism Exchange’s regional development manager for the Upper South Island.

Other relatively new tourism industry operators that are already benefitting from Tourism Exchange’s system are Te Puna Wai (listed on the NBR’s ‘Top 100 Homes’) and Wall Street Accommodation. Adoption of the Tourism Exchange technology across the industry has been encouraging. “We have seen over 300 businesses, nation-wide, sign up to our Booking Management System since July,” says Stewart. “It’s about helping businesses to get themselves online, and access new distribution opportunities.”