UK visitors still wanting to visit our Paradise

Just because the United Kingdom economy is still in recession does not mean there are not visitors who still want to visit the Cook Islands according to Angie Sloan our Tourism rep in the UK.
Angie who is here for the Tourism Forum this week, is certainly an enthusiastic representative for Cook Islands Tourism and while she acknowledges that costs having increased from 40 pounds sterling to 55 pounds and are due to rise again in November 2010 owing the government taxes on passenger duty to do with carbon emissions, she said that travelers from the UK are resilient and the differences are that many are now coming to the Cook Island and staying longer (from 7-10 days) and some are even staying for 4-5 weeks at a time.
Interest rates are an all-time low of only 0.5% (this is not a misprint) for homeowners and many are taking the opportunity to get away from the UK to give themselves a well earned break from the rigours of life there at the moment.
Events that will impact on travel are the UK general elections due in June 2010, and the Football World Cup in June 2010 to be held in South Africa, but there will always be those who were happy to escape from the rigours of life in the UK at the moment.
Many UK visitors see the Cook Islands as a honeymooner’s destination, or cuisine/dancing/culture destination; or the detox holiday, or for many the Cook Islands is seen as an authentic place that is a once-in-a-lifetime destination which they must-see and must-experience.
Our target market are the double income no kids set (DINKS), SKIERS (grey market, empty nesters) and Flash Packers (those who stay in a hotel one week and another in a backpacker or budget accommodation to make their holiday dollar go further)..
Marketing tactics include: viral marketing (using incentives for networking with other sales agents; taking part in the roadshow in UK, providing agents’ FAM in December 2010 (familiarization trips) and so on.
Some use the personal touch such as that of the UK artist who came to Aitutaki for her honeymoon and fell in love with the place who now holds semi-regular ‘Aitutaki’ cocktail parties where she extols the beauty of the island while showing videos of her experiences as a way of enthusing her audience to visit the island to see for themselves.

Herald Issue 463 10 June
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