Travel first for New Zealand website

Launched by the Minister of Tourism, the Hon Mark Burton, 'Travel Planner' on www.newzealand.com is the first time that a National Tourism Organisation has given users of its website so much control over how to plan what to see and where to go.

"We asked customers what they wanted and we responded, "says George Hickton, Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive. "Travel planning tools have been the most commonly requested feature on the site. Our potential visitors say they want to be able to plan, to collect their information, and to look at where all that fits on a map. We have given them all that and a level of detail that we think they will be delighted with."

"The Interactive Travel Planner is a fantastic way to give consumers the power to build their own travel itinerary in New Zealand at the same time as discovering the regions of New Zealand on our award-winning web site, www.newzealand.com. And, the greatest benefit is that consumers can simply print out their planned itinerary and take it into their travel agent to book their holiday!", says Sarah Meikle, Manager Gulf Region for Tourism New Zealand.

The planner will let users zoom down to street level details of a map of New Zealand, pick up attractions, accommodation or transport that may appeal to them and drop into what is effectively a shopping basket.

"And it is a 'smart' Planner - it allows users to place their selected activities and locations into a calendar - prompting the user to make transport decisions when selecting activities from different locations. The user can then easily share their plans with friends and family by emailing their itinerary to others.

"Keeping ahead of development trends is essential in today's tourism environment" says the Minister of Tourism Mark Burton.

"We know that the internet is one of the most important ways that people find out and make decisions on where they are next going to go for their holiday. It is a great tool for a small country like New Zealand. But there are a lot of countries with competing websites - we need to use new technology to our advantage, to make it easy for potential visitors to plan their visit here.

"We already know that our potential visitors like the site - there are over three million user sessions a year and the site won an international Webby award for best tourism website in the world earlier this year. This new development will help increase the usefulness of the site, and, we hope, the number of people that are inspired to visit New Zealand."