GM of Northern Territory Tourism’s wholesaler operation Territory Discoveries, Jeff Skinner told The Mole at ATE 2006 that TD’s business from New Zealand for the top end was 20% to 30% up and that they were experiencing ongoing huge growth from across the Tasman.
TD intends working much more closely with their parent State Tourism organisation and will be taking advantage of the growth from NZ by seeing if they can capture more business by developing strong relationships with the retail chains in NZ.
He said that Kiwis are looking for adventurous product and the Top End fitted the bill, and while the Kiwis like quality, they like a bargain. The key age demographic from NZ is 35 to 60, which is pretty broad, but they are adventurous and experienced travellers.
TD is also introducing incentives to agents in NZ to encourage them to book the Top End with TD and have added a toll free res number from NZ to the TD call centre.
When asked about the Aus market, Jeff said TD was doing well and bucking the domestic flat line trend to an extent and as a result of the closure of the Tasmanian Travel Centre in Sydney which TD shares with Tassie, TD will be seeking new premises in Sydney and are always looking at Brisbane and Melbourne and they already have an excellent representative in Adelaide.
Report from ATE 2006 by John Alwyn-Jones
