Archive for the ‘Our thoughts…’ Category
NZx September 19th: Authentic
Naumai
One of the challenges for attractions is to keep the visitor experience fresh and alive. Regular change and emotional connection is a necessity of designing successful visitor experiences.
While Tilden’s https://prezi.com/s1qrbgvpu7ik/tildens-principles-of-interpretation/ principles of interpretation were written in the late 1950’s they still apply today.
Without provocation the visitor experience risks being compromised and becoming purely a source of information – after all interpretation (the art of sharing stories and experiences) is not information!
Visiting the indigenous Tjapukai Cultural Centre in Cairns recently was case in point. There has been some attempt to use Tildens principles, particularly in the areas of reveal and age related experiences. Unfortunately the low point came when we were served “authentic” bush tucker – at a table complete with porcelain plates and in cups made in China. The damper was more like commercial bread. This was probably an attempt to placate potential food safety concerns, but it may also be an attempt to cater to the large wholesale group demands.
Whichever it was definitely not an authentic experience, and did little to provocate our thinking on indigenous foods!
Visiting Tjapukai ten years ago was a highlight of the Queensland experience. We were emotionally moved but this time the sanitized experience left us cold.
Ka kite ano
indigenous food at Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park
NZx August 14th – first impressions
Naumai
I recently had the opportunity to travel down SH 1 from Cambridge to Wellington.
I was struck by a number of tourism businesses that despite their prime site on SH 1 did little to inspire or motivate me to stop. What looked like broken down or dirty vehicles, broken or old signage and a general unkept appearance. It may be the off-season for some of these businesses but…!
In another city I recently visited a major attraction. The parking was difficult and well separated from the entrance. The entrance was uninviting and overdone with billboards. It did little to inspire a sense of anticipation for what might lie beyond.
This not only applies to those tourism businesses on SH 1 but also in many places and businesses as diverse as Queenstown and Auckland.
First impressions are like relationships. Rightly or wrongly most people make an assumption or form an impression in the first few seconds about the person they have just met. The same applies to your business.
What are the first physical impressions of your business?
My next blog will discuss what happens, or doesn’t,when you first enter a business and interact, or not (!) with staff.
Ka kite ano
Malcolm
What do visitors see when they arrive at your destination?
NZx July 17th: Undervalued
Naumai
Recently I travelled on the Kaitaki en route from Wellington to Picton.
A lounge is available for travellers that want something different from the standard Interislander fare. The marketing blurb describes Kaitaki Plus (the lounge) as offering “the most comfortable and luxurious way to travel between the North and South Islands of New Zealand.”
Your Kaitaki Plus ticket will give you access to an exclusive, premium, on-board lounge, providing: ….Free internet access……Complimentary food and beverages etc.
First impressions were good: good welcome by staff, light and airy, good seating, plenty of space. Food offering was average but certainly not up to say Koru lounge standard.
Two customer experiences that clearly need resolving are the internet and availability of coffee.One of the attractions of the lounge was the opportunity to access and work on the internet.Unfortunately the connections kept dropping out and in the end the laptop was put away due to sheer exasperation! Having worked on cruises ships for the last six years I acknowledge internet connections can be difficult but surely that shouldn’t be while crossing Cook Strait, and certainly not if identified as a selling feature. The coffee machine became a point of contention for another customer about 30 minutes out of Picton. A few minutes before the staff had hung up the “sorry this machine is not available” sign. She was clearly disappointed when she started to make coffee and was told that was not possible without (any real explanation) by a staff member. Sure coffee machines need cleaning but couldn’t that wait until after the ship was in port – it is after all not a big job.
These may be small features but should be easily fixed and for a premium lounge one would expect them to be. I guess it’s about putting the customer first and not the operational requirements of the organization.
The promotion of the lounge states that Kaitaki Plus will make you wish the trip was longer. I’m not convinced the experience delivered made me wish that…..and at $ 45 it is not a customer experience I would be recommending.
Ka kite ano
Malcolm
Does the customer experience equal $ 45?
NZx June 12th: Xrated
Naumai
Recently I attended TRENZin my capacity as GM at Sanctuary Mountain.
It had been a number of years since I had attended this international trade show. The time at TRENZ was a great opportunity to reconnect with old friends, develop new business opportunities and appreciate the breadth and scale of tourism in New Zealand.
However I was struck by the sameness of the product on offer and in many cases the same product (although packaged differently) in a number of different locations around the country. How many variations of zip-lines do we really need in a country as small as NZ?!
Wouldn’t it be great if each of our regions was able to truly focus on their points of difference, the attributes and experiences that can only be found in that region.
Not only would that enhance the range of products on ‘offer” but would also further drive our visitors into the regions. Imagine marketing NZ as a series of sub-themes (highlighting regional differences) based around 100% NZ.
The further development of initiatives such as airbnb add a distinctive NZ and local flavour, and a point of difference to an already crowded accommodation market place.
Not doing so runs the risk of further enhancing a sense of sameness in tourism – that can be found anywhere in the world. Hotels of course can be a classic example of global quality, but blandness, that permeates much of the industry.
Ka kite ano
Malcolm
NZx 1st June: new beginnings
Naumai
Is this a new beginning? The Department of Conservation has restructured and both the Director General and the Minister assure us it’s business as usual – all be it with a twist.
The Department will now develop partnerships with business as a way of generating revenue for conservation. Good in theory but what about the potential clash with sanctuary’s and other key iconic conservation projects that are chasing the same opportunities.
The Government’s current funding model in this area is contestable. Large community based projects are up against small locally driven initiatives for what is a small pot. The end result is that the small pot is diluted and so therefore are the conservation gains.
So where does that leave sanctuary’s? We contribute in a major way to the social, economic, environmental and spiritual wealth of New Zealand. One might argue that between the main 6-10 sanctuary’s, and other key iconic conservation projects, we offer the best hope for restoring what we have all lost.
As yet none of us generate enough revenue to be self sustainable. Until such time as we do we must rely on community support, volunteers and corporate sponsorship. All of these are in the same space the Department is moving too……..
If the Minister and the Department wish to choose another path which puts them in direct conflict with sanctuary’s survival both he, and they, may leave a sad legacy.
New beginnings – lets wait and see…..
Ka kite ano
Malcolm
koru on the shores of the Marlborough Sounds
NZx May 18th: differentation
Naumai
“Here I am a weather beaten and world weary traveller at the end of my journey of discovery through New Zealand.
Like everyone these days I’d ‘ done my homework before I came. I knew NZ isn’t 100% pure and untouched. It has one of the worlds worst records in terms of biodiversity loss. The quality of its streams and rivers is deteriorating. The loss of habitat over the last 300 years is sadly impressive.
I did come expecting to see and hear the stories of this place. I already knew that the introduced possum had caused significant damage to both habitat and endangered species. What I didn’t expect to hear was this story repeated at almost every location throughout my travels in wild New Zealand. I get the possum story and am frankly so over it! “
As providers and kaitiaki of NZ Inc we need to get our act together. We need to provide genuine, themed, regionally focused and integrated stories for travellers throughout New Zealand.
We don’t need to repeat the same story at every location.
We should focus on regionally based story telling that focus’s on the points of difference of that place.
Our visitors get the possum (and other repeating themes) story. The big picture NZ Inc stuff doesn’t need repeating at every location…!
Ka kite ano
Malcolm
tohora (blue whale)
NZx March 9th: guiding 101
Naumai
It has been great to get out and spend the last month travelling the country on the Oceanic Discoverer.
As well as getting the opportunity to lecture, guide, interpret and spend time with people from all around the world, you also get to experience NZ Inc from a visitors viewpoint.
We have previously posted on the need for interpreters to do the basics well. Essentially that is to have: well themed, entertaining, engaging and correct interpretation delivered in a passionate way to their visitors.
Over the last four weeks we have accompanied our visitors on some experiences offered by some of NZ’s leading tourism businesses. They do a great job of essentials such as: marketing, providing good equipment, and partially delivering on the promise.
Some don’t do a great job in the essential areas of visitor experiences. particularly guiding/interpretation. Specifically we endured: our guide continually standing at the front of the group and not being heard, our driver twice leaving us in a small van to carry out some personal business, a monotone lecture from another driver on bees which had nothing to do with the experience on offer and our guide (while knowing her material) being less than engaging.
Visitor’s on the Oceanic Discover come from all around the world, travel a long way and spend a lot of money to experience NZ. They have a great experience on the ship but some of our smaller land-based operators are delivering a less than 100% visitor experience.
Ka kite ano
Malcolm
NZx 3rd January: Luged
Naumai
So lets put one of New Zealand’s top soft adventure activities to the test……..
Hot summers day, fifteen of us on Skyline Rotorua’s luge.
Nice ride up in the gondola and great views over the city and lake. Pretty basic instruction but soon we were off…downhill – fast.
Sadly that was about as fast as it got……Once we hit the bottom we ran into a “luge-jam”. Essentially there was one staff person on duty; lots of people getting off luge’s and leaving them in the wrong place, luges weren’t going up the chairlift, and all in all utter confusion.
It was all capped off when the staff person yelled at an international visitor to drag their luge over to a certain area. The guest looked utterly bewildered….considering how many non-English speaking people visit this was not a good look.
We all calculated that by the time we accounted for the luge down time we probably lost the equivalent of two extra rides.
Skyline may have been trying to save money by not having a second person at the bottom of the luge, but they certainly ended up with lots of frustrated customers. Waiting, when you have paid a lot of money, is not a good thing…..
This is definitely not a good example of customer service or a visitor experience.
Ka kite ano
when not waiting in line this is what you get…………….
Malcolm
NZx 4th December: Restoring the DOC
Naumai
So what’s new the Department of Conservation is restructuring….yet again.
This seems to be a reoccurring event, at least every few years. Combine this with distinct shift to off load many of the Department’s responsibilities onto community groups and you have to shake your head.
In our case we are effectively doing the Department’s job. With a paltry budget of over $ 1.5 million we struggle to protect what we have. Yet we are investing in and creating a new future for much of New Zealand’s endangered wildlife and taonga. Go figure how that works!
I don’t blame the Department for the current situation. Political masters are at work here and DOC has always been an easy target for politicians.
The once proud mission cry of “restoring the dawn chorus” once struck a chord with many New Zealanders.
Perhaps it should be now reworded to say “restoring the DOC”.
Ka kite ano
Malcolm
keeping the bad things out and our taonga safe
NZx 15th November : Cruized
Naumai
One has to “admire” the persistence of the public relations machine that surrounds big ship cruising.
Trumpets sounding the largest cruise ship ever to visit New Zealand arrived in Dunedin yesterday. The constant lobbying of the sector for improved facilities for their clients is paramount. The large cruise ships arrive, spend hours shipping their passengers ashore, spend even longer shipping them away from the local community to some far off attraction, spend hours shipping their passengers back on board, then leave.
In contrast, small ships such as the Oceanic Discoverer (max capacity 72 passengers) are in a different space. Spending 12 nights exploring New Zealand they visit, and stay, in regional ports and in local anchorages. Exploration ships such as these require no facilities: other than a port visit once in the middle and at the beginning and end of their 12 night cruise.
There are no casinos, live shows or in many cases television. The “entertainment” are the guest lecturers or expedition leaders. The subjects: New Zealand inc. They use local operators and often allow passengers to arrange their own evening meal ashore.
They don’t lobby for expensive on-shore facilities where they do stop. All they simply need is a wharf and gangplank.
Surely this is a better long term sustainable outcome for NZ tourism than 5,000 people dumped amongst a bunch of logs miles from a city.
It’s a little like the Chinese market.Quick, get the masses in don’t worry about the long-term sustainability of the sector, or the industry. In fact it is deja-vu. We have all been through this with the Korean market not so long ago.
Think what happened to the large ship cruise market in Alaska. The effects that I have seen with my own eyes on small communities, the environment and the costly facilities built, linger on. Search the web for impacts of large cruise ships…….
The large cruise ship market is fickle. One day New Zealand Inc won’t be flavour of the month.
Ka kite ano
Malcolm
the way of the future – sustainable small cruise ship exploring