Tourism Operator Hub

In this toolkit you will find:

Northland Inc's role

Opportunities to market your tourism business

Guidelines on working with trade and cruise

Industry data and insights

Tools to help manage a sustainable tourism business

Industry contacts

Where to get support to grow your business

Contact details for our RTO team

How we position and market Northland

Taitokerau Northland has a highly varied range of experiences and attractions that entice visitors.

We appreciate that despite our best efforts, it’s near impossible to include all the reasons a visitor would want to choose Northland for their next holiday.

The introduction to Taitokerau Northland (see column to the right) forms the basis of our regional proposition, for both international and domestic markets. You are welcome to copy and paste it for your promotions if needed.

Find more details here

DOMESTIC CAMPAIGN OPPORTUNITIES

Northland Consumer Campaigns

Northland Inc runs consumer marketing campaigns to support tourism businesses and promote the best our region has to offer. The campaigns are designed to attract visitors to the region, and they are usually developed in partnership with airlines, airports, Tourism New Zealand, and other industry bodies.

Local tourism businesses can get involved in these campaigns by offering prizes, hosting visiting journalists and travel reviewers, or providing high-quality photos and videos of the experiences they offer for use in campaign collateral.

To get in touch regarding the consumer campaigns Northland Inc is currently involved with, please email tourism@northlandnz.com

INTERNATIONAL MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES

Tourism New Zealand Campaign Activity

Tourism New Zealand enables operators to leverage campaign activity through campaign toolkits as well as through the business listing database. Operators can offer deals and offers to align with specific campaign activity and for different markets.

To find out more about current Tourism New Zealand campaign activity visit their website or reach out to tourism@northlandnz.com to see if there are any regional specific opportunities for involvement. 

Find out how to partner with Tourism NZ

Northland International Marketing Group (IMG)

Joining the Northland International Marketing Group (IMG) connects your tourism business with Northland’s coordinated international trade and marketing activity. There is an annual membership fee to join this group.

5 Great reasons to join the International Marketing Group:

1. Get premium global exposure
Your business is promoted as a preferred product at international trade and media events, giving you additional visibility across key markets including Australia, North America, the UK/Europe, and beyond.

2. Access priority trade & media opportunities
Members are prioritised for inclusion in trade shows, familiarisation visits, and media opportunities, and receive relevant industry contacts gathered from offshore trade missions.

3. Unlock high-value leads & industry connections
Benefit from the sales leads, contacts, and introductions generated through Northland Inc’s global trade activity, including connections with inbound tour operators and international buyers.

4. Feature in high-impact marketing channels
IMG members are showcased across NorthlandNZ.com, the official Trade Brochure, and trade newsletters reaching 3,000+ industry professionals.

5. Join a collaborative network 
Pool resources with other operators to achieve greater international impact than individual marketing can achieve. The group meets quarterly to review past activity and discuss plans for upcoming opportunities. The Northland Inc team also provide updates and market insights at these sessions.

FAMILS

Northland Inc worked with multiple tourism providers to host this group of travel trade delegates from Australia and New Zealand to showcase our region.

Familiarisation visits (famils) are a great way to give key contacts the information they need to promote or market your business on your behalf. These are especially important for Tourism New Zealand and our Destination team here at Northland Inc as we represent a wide range of products, experiences and attractions. So regular product updates and familiarisation visits for new staff members are essential.

Experiencing a product or service firsthand is the easiest way to fall in love with it, become a believer and recommend it to others, so famils are key to success in tourism marketing. This applies to word-of-mouth marketing and also official channels such as through industry, trade and media.

Industry familiarisations

Providing industry famil visits to key contacts like isites, complimentary businesses like accommodation providers, local food and beverage operators or members of our Destination team, means you will have a group of local ambassadors for your product, who can talk about it firsthand and recommend it to visitors.

You may like to hold an open day, or aim to host a certain number of these key contacts each season.

Media familiarisations

Tourism New Zealand, Northland Inc, local promotional groups and independent agencies may invite media to experience Northland from time to time. These help to generate exposure for our region and tourism businesses within it. It is important to ensure that media can experience the full product or experience, as well as ask questions with yourself or your marketing staff either during or after the famil. Media famils are often hosted in an exchange known as contra. This means the experience is given in exchange for the promotion through the media channel, without monetary exchange. In some cases, it may be applicable or necessary to ask the host organisation to cover some expenses.

Trade familiarisations

Northland Inc and Tourism New Zealand also organise famil tours of our region for travel trade staff. These help to grow awareness of the amazing experiences Northland has to offer. When agents know your offering personally, they can sell it more effectively. Experiences are often provided Free of Charge (Or at a reduced rate) to agents travelling on these visits.

Find out more about trade famils in the Working With Travel Trade section of our website.

EVENTS

Whangārei Maritime Festival

If you are running an event that will attract visitation to and around Taitokerau Northland we would love to hear from you.

Visitor events listed on EventFinda are displayed in the Events section of our NorthlandNZ.com website, and if you are not using EventFinda you can list your event directly through our listing portal.

We may also be able to include your event in media and PR opportunities so be sure to get in touch to see how we can support.

BUSINESS EVENTS

Business events attract high-value visitors outside of traditional travel seasons, helping to smooth out peaks and troughs in tourism. Often called the MICE sector (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions/Events), it’s a valuable and growing market for Northland. Tourism businesses can get involved by offering venues, accommodation, or experiences, or by targeting travellers who extend their stay around business events.

Conference and event organisers can find Northland’s conference-ready products and services in the Travel Trade section of our website.
Paid listings are available for your business on this section of our website. To list your business, email tourism@northlandnz.com.

Business Events Industry Aotearoa (BEIA) is the national body supporting and promoting New Zealand’s business events sector. BEIA also runs Meetings, the country’s largest annual business events trade show. 

Find out more at www.beia.co.nz or contact tourism@northlandnz.com to learn how your business can engage with the MICE market.

CRUISE

The cruise industry is a large supplier of visitors to Northland shores, with tens of thousands of visitors arriving via ships annually. Northland is home to two cruise ports, the Bay of Islands and Northport (Whangārei district), giving tourism businesses across Northland the ability to target cruise passengers with a range of shore excursions. Northland Inc is a member of the New Zealand Cruise Association. To find out more about NZCA or become a member visit their website. www.newzealandcruiseassociation.com

Developing a Cruise Product

It is important to understand that cruise ship passengers typically have limited time ashore, and often choose unique or iconic activities while in the region. Popular tours tend to take passengers to places they cannot reach independently, offer visits to more than one attraction, or provide exclusive experiences.

As an operator you will need to think about how your product fits within the wider cruise schedule, as cruise passengers also tend to look for different activities to do at each port they visit. Consider how you will fit your experience in the allotted time frame, what group sizes you can accommodate, and how your tour fits with the age and demographic of the cruise ship passengers. You may also want to consider whether your product allows passengers free time before they depart the region, and how you will guarantee them the confidence that they will return to their ship in time for its departure.

Visit the Cruise Association website

How to reach the Cruise market

There are several ways cruise ship passengers plan and book their shore excursions when visiting Northland. These include:

1. Through shore excursions, programmes offered onboard cruise ships. These programmes are facilitated by New Zealand-based inbound tour operators. There is more information below on working with inbound operators for the cruise sector.
2. Direct with a tourism business or via one of the many online travel channels.
3. Through a Northland Visitor Information Centre.

Working with inbound tour operators

You will need to work with an inbound tour operator (ITO) that manages shore excursions for several cruise companies to have your tour product offered on board. To be considered by an ITO, operators need to understand international distribution and have commission structures in place. Many ITOs are based in Auckland and have long lead times for cruise-related marketing. They package their land-based content 18-24 months in advance, then provide it to offshore cruise companies to package into their programmes.

To be included in a programme, you will need to:
• Show history and examples of your relationships with New Zealand-based ITOs.
• Show your product is unique and meets the needs of cruise passengers.
• Have factored in the appropriate commission levels for the ITO (about 25-30%).

If you are interested in working with cruise in Northland or finding out more information, please contact tourism@northlandnz.com