Tourism businesses must address internet challenges

October 15th, 2012
[by David Armstrong]

The internet is changing the way tourists travel in New Zealand, a tourism survey suggests. And Motueka accommodation providers and retailers need to take careful heed of the implications if they are to survive and thrive through this decade.

Tourism New Zealand's 'Visitor Experience Monitor', released last week, summed the responses of 4566 visitors who came to New Zealand in 2011/12. A digest of the results was published on Yahoo's Totaltravel website, which you can .

It showed that fewer people are using travel agents and instead are going through websites before coming to New Zealand. And they are increasingly using technology while here - just eight per cent of tourists did not use a laptop or mobile phone while travelling.

Tourists were increasingly expecting businesses to offer wireless internet, said Tourism NZ's Chris Roberts. That meant internet cafes were also less of a destination as tourists expected to be able to access the web from their own devices.

But it's not all about technology. Despite the increasing use of the internet, once they were here, after checking their guidebooks, visitors were more likely to take advice from real people - hotel and motel staff, visitor centres and locals they know.

The use of i-Sites is declining, with 41 per cent of those surveyed visiting them, down from 56 per cent two years ago. However this was not signalling the death of visitor centres; they should be concentrating on adding value. i-Sites were proving valuable in that people enjoyed using them and they offered more in-depth local knowledge, Mr Roberts said.

The survey also found fewer visitors are using motels, down from 32 per cent to 29 per cent, while the number of people staying at private homes or with friends had risen from 34 per cent to 37 per cent.

The decline in motel use was put down to the rise of online services for booking holiday houses and baches which were competing on price, and also the fact that motels were not well understood by increasing numbers of visitors from Asia and Europe, Mr Roberts said.

Many of Motueka's High Street retailers must also pay more attention to the challenges of online shopping sites. While some have active websites, most do not.

This means that while they struggle with more forceful competitors (such as Harvey Norman's recent weekend sale in Motueka), local shops are also (1) losing local custom to online shopping sites, and (2) not attracting online buyers from outside of town to replace local losses.

It has come to Motueka Online's attention that a large number of local retail businesses are not even availing themselves of free pages promoting their businesses to visitors on Our Town Motueka's new website.

Anyone in business wilfully ignoring the growing use of the internet, particularly for attracting tourists and shoppers, should not complain at the resulting loss of custom. The internet is not a fad and will not go away.

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