Destination Great Lake Taupō this week hosted 26 inbound tour wholesalers and travel agents from across New Zealand and Australia for a three-day mega famil to experience the very best of the region and showcase Taupō as the ultimate alpine holiday destination.
“Our focus is on building visitor arrivals through the shoulder seasons, so providing agents with the opportunity to spend 3 – 4 days in region is the best way to increase their knowledge and passion for our destination, and then better share and sell our experiences with their clients”, says Destination Great Lake Taup≈ç business events manager Karen Rainbow.
“This is a highly effective way to broaden our product offering into our key international source markets and introduce the Taup≈ç region to new markets such as India.
"It also provides us with the perfect platform to encourage the agents to consider using Taup≈ç as their base from which to explore the central North Island when building client’s itineraries”, says Karen.
During their three-night stay the agents experienced a broad range of accommodation and activities, including horse trekking, hiking, hot pools, jetboating, bungy jumping, cruising on the lake and the new Sky Waka gondola at Whakapapa Ski Area.
Agents were encouraged to share beautiful images from around the region to their followers using the hashtag #lovetaupo2019 during their stay. A gala dinner held on the Saturday evening bought together agents with tourism operators for an opportunity to build connections and partnerships.
"It was so great to get out with Love Taupō and explore the region," says Madi Lord, ID New Zealand | Bespoke Tours.
"It’s such an important role for all inbound tour operators to experience the region, products and meet the operators, as it allows us to sell the product with confidence and know that our clients will be safe, well looked after and walk away with a memorable and unforgettable experience.”
“Hosting this very influential group of travel buyers in region will have positive effects for our tourism operators for years to come, providing many of them with new distribution opportunities across a variety of international markets,” says Karen.
Attendees included agents from First Light Travel, JCM Travel, Experience NZ, Pacific Destinations, APTC, ID New Zealand, General Travel, Southern Crossings, Frogs in NZ, Haka Tours, NZ Journeys, Once Upon a Trip, Southern World, ANZ Nature Tours, Naturally NZ, Leisure Time, Green Spot, White Clouds, Flight Centre, Pan Pacific, ANZCRO, Tourism New Zealand and MoaTrek.
The famil forms part of Destination Great Lake Taup≈ç’s trade famil programme which targets inbound tour wholesalers and travel agents who sell Taup≈ç in their international itineraries.
