Rotorua experiences play a starring role in a new Tourism New Zealand marketing campaign targeting Aussies.
While the borders are closed for international travel, New Zealand is inviting Australians to come and virtually play in a never-before-seen tourism experience called PLAY NZ.
In it, Rotorua's landscape has been turned into a gamified walk-through where virtual tourists are guided through an 'open world' experience by the familiar kiwi voice of narrator Julian Dennison.
The 9 minute hero video was filmed entirely in Rotorua featuring mountain biking in the Whakarewarewa Forest with Jamie Garrod of New Zealand Mountain Biking, white water rafting down the Kaituna River with Sam Sutton from Rotorua Rafting, and a scene at Lake Tarawera.
The content hub on the Play NZ website also features short immersive videos from Mitai Maori Village, Waimangu Volcanic Valley, Rotorua Canopy Tours, Te Puia, New Zealand Mountain Biking, so Rotorua is extremely well represented in the campaign.
Until Australians can travel internationally, this campaign is a great way of inspiring them to plan a trip to New Zealand by giving them a virtual experience of what they’ll be able to do when they get here.
It’s the first time that a country has taken this approach so the campaign will stand out from all of the other international destination marketing campaigns. And the best part is that Rotorua is front and centre as the ‘realm’ featured within the gaming concept.
Australia is Rotorua's largest source of international visitors with Aussies contributing $73m to the local economy in 2019.
