Wairarapa tourism campaign a big hit

Almost 3000 entries have been fielded for the Wairarapa Winter Cool Campaign with a prize including accommodation and activities in Wairarapa including a scenic helicopter ride.

Engagement with a Destination Wairarapa winter tourism campaign has already reached an unprecedented high - a mere month into the competition.

While winter usually presents the tourism sector in the region with a few challenges, the Wairarapa Winter Cool Campaign, which started at the end of May, has already received almost 3000 entries.

The competition offers the winner a prize for two that includes two nights' accommodation at Copthorne Hotel & Resort, a scenic helicopter flight, a wine tour, and other fun activities within Wairarapa.

A focus of the campaign has been to engage the online community through social media, and as Destination Wairarapa Media Communications Katie Farman says, the winter campaign is the most successful competition they have ever run.

"The winter campaign has received great pickup on social media," she said.

"There has been a strong viewership of the videos Destination Wairarapa has specifically created for the winter campaign which is pleasing to see."

"The competition ends on July 20 so we expect entrant numbers to increase."

The video of a scenic Wairarapa helicopter flight posted to the Wairarapa Facebook page to introduce the campaign on May 29 has had over 8500 views to date.

Although tourism and domestic spending in Wairarapa is relatively low during winter, each year the region has shown a progressive increase in the tourism sector during the season.

Destination Wairarapa Manger David Hancock said spending by domestic and international visitors was strongest across cafes, restaurants, food retail and retail. "As a region we are collectively working towards delivering on The Tourism 2025 Framework to increase tourism's contribution to GDP," he said.