Using business intelligence tool Forward Keys to analyse GDS flight bookings made up to 26 August, the figures show inbound tourism to New Zealand will increase more than 25%  during the world cup when compared to the same period in 2010.

Amadeus and Forward Data partnered to create Forward Keys last November.

The largest contributors to the tourism influx are fans from Australia, UK, France and South Africa.

Arrivals from the US are the only number to decrease over the period – down more than 11% compared to the same period last year.

The  figures also show positive thinking from South African fans with almost half choosing to travel in the final stages of the tournament.

The Rategain data covers the region from August to October 2011, taken on the first week of August (all rates in US dollars for two adults for a one-night stay).

Three star [click for larger image]:

Four star [click for larger image]:

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NB: RateGain specializes in competitive price intelligence and rate shopping solutions for hotels, online travel companies and airlines. It currently tracks more than one billion hotel rates every month across countries in US, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Latin America.

NB2: The above data is indicative in nature and RateGain can’t be held liable for its accuracy or usefulness for any purpose.

The Rategain data covers the region from July to September 2011, taken on the fifth week of June (all rates in US dollars for two adults for a one-night stay).

Three star [click for larger image]:

Four star [click for larger image]:

Five star [click for larger image]:

NB: RateGain specializes in competitive price intelligence and rate shopping solutions for hotels, online travel companies and airlines. It currently tracks more than one billion hotel rates every month across countries in US, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Latin America.

NB2: The above data is indicative in nature and RateGain can’t be held liable for its accuracy or usefulness for any purpose.

The redesigned site is being touted as the next phase of the DMO’s digital marketing strategy as it looks to move from a purely information portal about the country to a wider travel planning tool.

Tourism New Zealand reckons 80% of travellers to the country use the web for research, planning and booking their trips, triggering a rethink of how it not only engages with consumers before and after visit but helps travel businesses in New Zealand.

On the user generated content side, visitors are being encourage upload their own content (photos, etc) as well as pulling in content from the likes of YouTube, Vimeo and Flickr.

But it is the functionality and search tools around destination tour and activities which is likely to catch the eye of travel businesses in the country.

Suppliers will be able to create their own pages on the site, including content, images and lists of deals, all of which will feed into its country-wide search engine for things to do.

Tourism New Zealand has made registration for the service free to any company selling New Zealand-based products, but is also attempting to ensure such products are useful from a user experience perspective by ranking them on the site based on use of video, images as well as feedback from consumers.

The organisation says the new site represents a shift in its marketing strategy from simple awareness raising to potential visitors to targeting those that are already considering New Zealand for a trip and want to know what additional services and products are available.

The Blog4Nz project runs from today until Wednesday (23 March) and is a grassroots, social media campaign to encourage travellers to continue to visit the country despite the big headlines and dramatic footage and images from Christchurch after the 6.3-level quake.

The project is being organised by a quartet of well known travel bloggers (Jim McIntosh from Holes in My Soles, John Reese from the French Way Travel Blog, Craig Martin from the Indie Travel Podcast and Dan Roberts from Travel Generation) and has also attracted the attention of businesses and mainstream travel groups.

The idea is to encourage bloggers and travel websites around the world to publish an article about New Zealand over the course of the three days, highlighting some of the sights and attractions of the country and urging travellers to not be put off by the earthquake.

Martin is estimating around 300 contributions will be made over course of the event, the seeds of which were first sewn via a Facebook page and the tireless efforts of the organising team to get people involved.

“It’s exciting to see people pull together like this, especially in the strange and wonderful world of travel blogging, where everyone has such a unique point of view and the platform to share it from.

“There’s still a lot to be done for the people of Christchurch – things there are by no means back to normal – but there’s little to no impact for visitors, apart for missing some sightseeing in the central city. New Zealand is very definitely open to visitors.”

The project is also being touted as the first time a grassroots social media initiative has managed to secure massive support from a string of high profile organisation, including Virgin Blue, Air New Zealand, Tourism New Zealand – the latter which is pulling into tweets from the event to its Facebook page.

Since the Blog4NZ project was conceived, Japan has faced its own series of natural disasters (and the subsequent problems at a major nuclear power plant), causing widespread damage and the death of thousands of people.

When asked last week if the Blog4NZ would be altered following the earthquake and tsunami, Martin said the situation in Japan was very different and such a promotion therefore not appropriate, especially as a humanitarian effort was still required on the ground, rather than an influx of tourists.

NB: Follow the coverage at Blog4NZ on Facebook or #blog4NZ on Twitter.

NB2: Here is a clip of Martin explaining the project on New Zealand radio last week:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfqyxBTXxAk

Earlier this week, Expedia apologised after a mailshot to subscribers featured a postcard picture of a cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand, which was severely damaged in the city’s earthquake just a few hours before.

Given the negative press Expedia received after the error, perhaps surprising to see another online travel agency in the region – Wotif – at the centre of another, arguably worse, faux pas.

Users visiting the accommodation search pages on the OTA may have come across a luxury bed and breakfast known as Tangley on Clyde.

Unfortunately, try and look at the price and more information and a pop-up appears with a special offer: “Min 2 mights stay, with this ‘Shaking Good Deal’ you will receive a complimentary gourmet meal with a glass of wine, which is valued at $65 per head.”

“Shaking good deal” is probably not the best turn of phrase given the circumstances, especially as the hotel was damaged in the quake.

When asked about the signage and language, a Wotif official says:

“We have since done a bit of investigating and I have found the deal in question. It was added on the 9 of February by the hotel as an exclusive offer. I believe that the unusual name was purely given as a way of highlighting it at the time. It was removed in the very early hours of this morning by our HQ in Australia and was just a very unfortunate coincidence.”

Once again, such events illustrate that companies should perhaps have some kind of process in place that will search for and eliminate such potentially embarrassing – or even insulting – messaging when tragic events take place.

As for the Tangley on Clyde? The hotel says it came through the devastating events earlier in the week with minimal damage and the owners “look forward to welcoming our guests for the season.”

“We would like to thank all of our guests who have emailed and phoned to check that we are ok and that Tangley has survived the shake.”

The cathedral was severely damaged in the quake which hit the city on Tuesday this week, with 75 dead so far, hundreds injured and widespread destruction to buildings and streets.

Unconfirmed reports say some people were killed when part of the famous cathedral collapsed during the quake.

Expedia officials have blamed marketing colleagues in its London office for the blunder. Australia and New Zealand boss Nicolas Chu says its promos are created and sent from the UK, but apologised for any “insensitivity”.

The faux pas came to light after subscribers to the email started slamming Expedia in social networks such as Twitter for including the artwork in the bulletin.

Later versions of the promo featured a mountain landscape view  from New Zealand instead of the cathedral.

Other web companies have taken a more helpful approach in the wake with the disaster. Within hours of the main tremor, Google had created a Crisis Response page, allowing users to locate the nearest medical units in the city on a map and register if they are looking for friends or relatives.

NB: Thanks to a reader for the image.

The well known Building Blocks TV ads thrown at consumers recently in the US and UK isn’t making its way Down Under, with ad agency BMF coming up with a completely new idea.

The TV spots are the first made for the Australia and New Zealand TV audiences.

The ad, which has the new logo and linguistically awkward “Where You Book Matters” tagline, is designed to illustrate the vast hotel content available on the Expedia site rather than the dynamic packaging capabilities in the UK, for example.

Expedia Australia lags behind rivals Webjet and FlightCentre in the Australia online agency marketplace.

Figures from Hitwise for the week ending 1 May 2010 show that the Australia site has a market share of 7.2% and the dot-com attracts a further 2.87%.

Combined they challenge FlightCentre (10.09%) but are still 3% behind WebJet.

Here’s the ad:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NWbbx4JS7w

NB: Hat-tip Mumbrella.

Borghi’s three-minute Working Day clip was selected by Jackson following a four-month competition which saw over a 1,000 wannabe directors submit ideas for a screenplay to extol the virtues of New Zealand.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIlm3LYVAcg

Following the launch of the Your Big Break campaign in November 2009, submission process and 60-second video pitches, a panel of Academy Award-winning producers, editors and film-makers created a shortlist of five entries.

Each director was then invited to New Zealand to shoot and edit their screenplays into three-minute clips with a NZ$100,000 budget, including use of Jackon’s post-production facilities in Wellington.

The entire process was catalogued on the Your Big Break blog, including interviews and clips from the five finalists.

Jackson in Los Angeles for the 2010 Oscars and to announce the winner of the Your Big Break competition, said:

“This short film stood out as a fresh and original piece of storytelling. I loved the whismical way it showcased the natural beauty of our country; its humour kept the viewer engaged and entertained from beginning to end.

“Most importantly it made you want to see more of the stunning landscapes of New Zealand. I was particularly impressed by the director’s use of camera, the editing and the strong visual story-telling. This was an extremely accomplished piece of filmmaking.”

The new service launched today and is initially targeting domestic flights in and around Australia, with plans to expand into regional and long-haul flights over time.

Another flight search and booking system wouldn’t ordinarily capture huge amounts of attention, but the pedigree and experience behind the Wotif mothership is likely to make its new rivals in the airfare area take note.

Wotif.com launched in 2000 as an online distressed hotel inventory service, but quickly extended its booking time and global reach to challenge some of the biggest names in the Australasian region.

It is now one very few businesses to dominate a market instead of Expedia-owned TripAdvisor in accommodation rankings on Hitwise, courtesy of its running start and strong brand in Australia.

Wotif is currently almost 2% ahead of TripAdvisor in market share and 4% and 5% ahead of Booking.com and HotelClub respectively.

The new WotFlight brand is being touted as a “natural progression” for the wider group by its CEO Robbie Cookie.

Inevitably the two brands will work closely alongside each other as visitors to the new site will be offered accommodation vouchers on the sister site.

The fighting talk has already started, with brand manager Megan Magill claiming supremacy over content and functionality against its new rival in the flight search sector before the site even launches.

Webjet, Flight Centre and the Australian divisions of Expedia and lastminute.com currently top the Hitwise rankings in the agency categories.

Let me take you down under. All the way down under to the online travel market in New Zealand.

With a population of only 4.23 million (123rd in the world), NZ punches above its weight in a number of arenas (sports, arts and movies being just a few).

Also in online travel. PhoCusWright tell us in their latest Asia-Pacific report that the combined ANZ online travel market is US$6.2billion (2008).

On a pure population split this would put the NZ online travel market in 2008 at just on USD$1billion.

All of the big online travel players are in the market in some shape or form. Expedia has a local site.

So too Travelocity but under their Asia-Pacific name Zuji (no flights and, only after a false start, as a joint venture). Orbitz is also very active in NZ through HotelClub and RatesToGo (but I will leave it for others to comment on Orbitz).

Priceline has the lowest touch operations as they don’t have an NZ version of Booking.com – but Adrian Currie, chairman of their Asia biz Agoda (and now also listed MD ANZ for Booking.com), is based in the land of the long white cloud.

In addition to the big four, Australian online travel giant Wotif has crossed the Tasman with ease and established themselves as the number one online accom player.

Excluding suppliers, map sites, pure content sites and government sites, the top ranked travel sites according to Hitwise are as follows (in brackets I have put their actual ranking)

1. House of Travel (local offline company) (4)
2. Flight Centre NZ (Australia’s largest offline) (6)
3. Wotif (10)
4. HolidayHouses.co.nz (14)
5. Webjet NZ (16)
6. TripAdvisor (17)
7. Expedia NZ (20) (Expedia.com is ranked 35)
8. Travelbug (owned by Trade Me – largest site in NZ – more below) (36)
9. TotalTravel.com (Yahoo7-owned accomodation listing service) (38)
10. HotelClub and RatesToGo (41 and 40 respectively) (combined would be 25)
11. Booking.com (46)

NB: You’ll note that Zuji/Travelocity is not in the Hitwise top 50.

This is a lot of activity from a lot of large online travel companies for a market that is only worth $1billion.

There is an ease of expansion element here as you can enter the NZ market using a lot of the foundation resources set up in the Australian market but it is also a sign of the growth expectations and online adoption rates.

In 2007, into this very crowded and competitive market came the launch of Travelbug.

Travelbug is a domestic/inbound hotel-only online travel company launched by the Fairfax-owned and eBay-killing Trade Me.

NB: Fairfax is one of Australia’s largest offline media companies and Trade Me is an online auction site in NZ, the largest website in NZ by traffic and drove eBay out of the market in 2001. More details on Trade Me wikipedia article.

While new to online travel Travelbug has a huge PR and traffic machine behind it.

An announcement from Travelbug/Trade Me this week saw an escalation of this battle in NZ.

Travelbug/Trade Me announced that it would be buying online booking software provider BookIt for an undisclosed sum (official press release).

BookIt are a reservation and booking engine for small accomodation, activities and tour providers, allowing a hotel, B&B, farm stay etc to set up a reservation system and website.

It also allows for connections into other websites through channel managers. Finally, it provides distribution through BookIt resellers which include a number of DMOs such as Tourism Auckland.

The small/independent property market solution part of the BookIt system is not a huge win for Travelbug as they have been using a solution called Vianet for many years now (originally an independent company, now owned by Trade Me). But the expansion of inventory and resellers is a good move.

I spoke with Trade Me’s manager for strategy and analytics, Alex Fala, about the deal.

He told me that it was a joint supply and demand deal – that BookIt would bring on even more independent inventory that already available on their Vianet system and 40 or so resellers.

Overtime the Vianet system would be completely replaced with the BookIt solution.

Fala says that Travelbug is not concerned about the number of competitors active in NZ or that his company is the only one of the majors focused exclusively on the NZ market (ie no international inventory).

He says New Zealand is “immature but growing. We believe that there is enough growth in the market and it is dynamic enough [to support the number of competitors]“.

Travelbug’s challenge remains how to funnel the enormous Trade Me traffic into the Travelbug site.

The BookIt deal comes with some traffic so is a good step but not the full answer to this challenge.

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.