New Zealand Heritage

Case 18: New Zealand Heritage Park

Context of the Case

The New Zealand Heritage Park was created by Terry Beckett, who realised the opportunity to provide a large tourist operation to try and fulfil some of the potential which New Zealand holds. It was designed as a world class park, modelled to international standards, comprising of three main areas.

1. Natureworld – to showcase the natural beauty of New Zealand with native flora and fauna as well as bird aviary’s, trout pools and a manmade lake.

2. Agriworld – this area of the park was created to feature New Zealand’s farming, horticulture and forestry practices through a farm show as well as a period sawmill and gum digging and gold panning displays.

3. Cultureworld- is an area where visitors can learn all about the Maori heritage of New Zealand. There is a professional Maori concert as well as displays and demonstrations of traditional practices.

The New Zealand Heritage Park is targeted at both domestic and international tourists, however it was expected that international visitors would contribute the most per capita income to the park. The majority of domestic promotion was done through newspaper advertisements whilst international marketing was done through a mix of trade packs, brochures and pamphlets and commission arrangements for travel agents.

Key Marketing Issues

When identifying the Key Marketing Issues for the NZHP I related these back to the promotion mix;

Advertising – The NZHP has made a good start on their advertising but for it to achieve its full potential it needs to work on its distribution channels and adapt its marketing techniques to be more in line with today’s online travel planner.

Sales Promotion – They have managed the sales promotion effectively through the incentive of commissions to overseas travel agents. They could further extend this to include family and group discounts.

Personal Selling – There is not a large amount of information in personal selling in the...