City puts best foot forward at Trenz

Rotorua's tourism sector is gearing up for next week's Trenz trade show in Queenstown, but it is facing new competition in its bid to host the event in 2013.

Destination Rotorua Marketing general manager Oscar Nathan said final preparations were under way to promote the district at the annual trade expo, which runs from Monday to Thursday.

"We have 17 exhibitors in the Rotorua area this year and we will have three of our own staff there running two appointment streams."

As well as Asian market executive Shelley Huang, famils executive Helen van Beek and Australian business development manager Joey Rihari, Nathan will also be at the event in his role as Tourism Industry Association deputy chairman.

He said operating two streams would enable the team to target traditional markets such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and to reach out to buyers from the growing Asian markets - each well represented among the expo's qualified buyers.

The regional tourism organisation has 102 appointments booked with media and buyers.

"About 80-85 per cent of buyers are well established or branches of established buyers. About 15-20 per cent are completely new to Trenz and we are trying to get in and start selling the region to them as well."

From a TIA perspective, Nathan said the event had traditionally been very well supported by the likes of Air New Zealand and Qantas, but organisers needed to start thinking about opportunities with other big airlines operating in key markets, such as China Southern Airline.

"Routes into China and Asean will be really important. That's where it will be useful for us to have a more global look."

He said it was great to be heading back to Queenstown again for the 2012 event, but the reduced footprint created to allow the Queenstown and Southern Lakes regional tourism organisation to host the event last year at the smaller Queenstown Events Centre would affect Rotorua's chances of picking it up again next year.

"Rotorua has definitely put an expression of interest to host Trenz next year. But that smaller footprint will make it more viable for other regions that may not have hosted it before and it will be a bit of a challenge for us. It will be twice as hard to get it back to Rotorua."

The 2013 venue will be announced next week.

But local operators are currently focused on Trenz 2012 and van Beek said the support from had been tremendous. And Rotorua's hosting for the Regional Rendezvous mix and mingle session on the Tuesday evening would be supporting local products in return.

"We will be highlighting some of the city's foods and beverages and will be sharing an area with the Hawkes Bay, known for its food and wine, so we are hoping to attract a good crowd."

Adrenalin Forest well received

Trenz 2012 is being held at Queenstown Events Centre between Monday, May 7, and Thursday, May 10.

The event will include:

• 
  More than 1000 attendees, including 308 international travel buyers, 270 New Zealand exhibitors, 30 international media and 30 New Zealand media.
• 
  27 new exhibitors.
• 
  80 new products.

Among the 27 new exhibitors is Adrenalin Forest - an adventure tourism company at the All Terrain Tect Park, 30 minutes' from Rotorua.

Managing director Jean Caillabet said the business was now well-established and it was time to start telling the world.

"Trenz is the largest tourism show in New Zealand and we need to be a part of it to develop relationships with international and domestic clients and establish the company as a serious player in the tourism market."

Caillabet said Trenz was a good platform to achieve this as it allowed the company to make contact with a variety of people from a wide range of countries in a short space of time.

"The media response to our story so far has been amazing. We hope to get as many buyers and media as possible to come and experience our product and see for themselves why the park is so popular and here to stay.

"We are very happy with the level of enquiry we have received.

"We have a full diary of appointments with most buyers eager to make appointments with us and find out more about what we have to offer, one of the benefits of being a first-time exhibitor."