Tourism New Zealand is probably recognised as one of the more progressive DMOs out there with its use of social media to tap into the search phase of the booking cycle.
It was one of the first to realise that YouTube [via the Pure New Zealand channel] is a far cheaper way of distributing video content to a wide audience on a global scale – rather than or alongside expensive 30-second TV adspots.
And now it has put its faith in Kevin Bowler, a techhead through and through, to spearhead the organisation’s next phase.
Bowler joins the DMO from Yahoo! Xtra, a joint venture between Yahoo! and Telecom New Zealand to power the New Zealand Yahoo! portal with news, weather and feature content. He joined in 2007.
The Auckland-based executive certainly has a digital pedigree and also had a brief foray into the travel sector earlier in his career, having run the marketing efforts of Telecom’s mobile brand and as an account manager for Air New Zealand when at the DDB advertising giant.
He takes up the position in January 2010, replacing outgoing CEO George Hickton.
This will be one to watch and see how this plays out down in the Switzerland of the South Pacific! Could possibly step up the tempo for other DMOs around the world to jump on the innovation and tech train or be left further behind.