Aussies take a journey through the North Island

Australian travellers are being tempted by the wonders of the North Island with the launch of Tourism New Zealand’s latest joint venture campaign ‘Every day a different journey’.

Launched today, the campaign highlights the diverse range of experiences the North Island has to offer, all within close proximity to one another.

The campaign is run in partnership with North Island Regional Tourism Organisations including Northland Inc; Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development (ATEED); Hamilton & Waikato Regional Tourism; Destination Coromandel; Tourism Bay of Plenty; Destination Rotorua; Destination Lake Taupo and key tourism operators Te Puia, Tourism Holding Limited (THL) and the Avis Budget Group.

Tourism New Zealand’s General Manager Australia, Tony Saunders says this is one of the organisation’s largest and most successful marketing campaigns in the Australian market and is now into its fourth year.

"This year’s campaign focuses on taking a journey through experiences - where one day you can be scaling Auckland’s Sky Tower and the next be standing next to an erupting geyser in Rotorua."

"Our research shows that last year’s campaign proved to be highly motivating, effectively driving preference for New Zealand as a holiday destination to the highest levels we’ve recorded so far.

"With our new targeted focus this year we anticipate even better results," says Tony.

The public relations component of the campaign has been significantly expanded this year, with extensive media coverage secured to deliver NZD$1.3 million of exposure.

"Through our international media programme, four key Australian social media influencers will take a journey through the North Island - sharing their experiences through social channels reaching an audience of 830,000," says Tony.

"The reach provided by media coverage is far greater than what we can achieve with paid advertising alone and is a core element of all our activity.

Marketing activity includes TV advertising promoting key campaign regions, supported by digital, online and social media activity on Trip Advisor and Facebook, driving traffic to campaign pages on newzealand.com.

Activity with Flight Centre and Air New Zealand will directly target their consumer databases, digital and social channels.

ATEED Manager of Tourism Jason Hill says partnerships remain vital to the success of this campaign.

"We’re very excited to be a major partner in the campaign and look forward to delivering activity that tells a fresh and compelling story - ultimately encouraging Australians to experience the North Island."

The campaign will once again target potential travellers in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland with a focus on the main metropolitan areas of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane as the largest source markets of Australian visitors to New Zealand.

Australia is New Zealand's largest international visitor market with 1,239,808 visitors in the year ending July 2014.