Strong Interest in Cook Islands

Cook Islands Tourism’s “FOCUS Cook Islands NZ Roadshow” is proving hugely popular with travel agents throughout New Zealand says Cook Islands Tourism’s acting New Zealand manager, Kelly Hansen.
“The response from the travel agents attending the breakfast last week in Dunedin was very encouraging. We held an evening function with agents in Christchurch last Friday night and the atmosphere was so positive regarding the Cook Islands and their commitment to becoming Cook Islands’ specialists.”
“We are very conscious of the fact we haven’t been in the marketplace for a while with a roadshow or famils. We want to alert the travel agents to the fact that the Cook Islands is a fantastic destination and reinvigorate their interest in selling by designing the roadshow to be not only informative but also fun and educational.
Mrs Hansen says the response from small towns has been well worthwhile.
“There is always a temptation to just focus on the main cities but we wanted to ensure the smaller towns were included in the roadshow and it paid off, particularly the turnout in Napier.”
Mrs Hansen says at each venue, one lucky agent has the chance to win a grand prize on one of the three famils Cook Islands Tourism is running in October to Rarotonga and Aitutaki as well as fantastic giveaways such as the Cook Islands Tourism’s WAS bags which are one of a kind and made out of old Cook Islands billboard campaigns and recycled into fantastic laptop bags.
Cook Islands Tourism has planned the roadshow to coincide with the Flight Centre Expos throughout New Zealand in Christchurch, Auckland and Wellington.
“We have a great team on the roadshow and we all commented on how impressed we were with the standard of travel agents coming along. They were very proactive with a real keenness to learn more. The expo was just buzzing in Christchurch at the Convention Centre. We had a very strong Cook Island presence with several suppliers joining us.”
Cook Island suppliers at the expo included the Muri Beach Club Hotel, Pacific Resort Hotels, Edgewater Resort & Spa, Rarotongan Beach Resort & Spa, Crown Beach Resort, Castaway Beach Villas, Manuia Beach Boutique Hotel, Lagoon Lodges, Aquarius Rarotonga, Puaikura Reef Lodges, Aroa Beachside Inn and Atiu Villas.
Rarotonga featured as one of the ‘Hot Deals of the Day’ at the Expo with five nights at Club Raro from $799. Mrs Hansen says there was strong interest in the Cook Islands from the attendees at the Expo.
“I was most impressed with the number of people coming through in a steady stream all day. The Cook Islands stand had a significant number of genuine enquiries about holidaying in the Cook Islands from family getaways, through to weddings and honeymoons, it was incredibly worthwhile and as always we are thrilled to be supporting Flight Centre and Infinity Holidays.”
The “FOCUS Cook Islands Roadshow” has just completed Auckland with over 100 agents at each venue, Cook Islands Tourism will be at the Flight Centre Expo this Sunday in Auckland. For more information or to register for the remaining venues go to http://www.CookIslandsExperience.com/account/roadshow.aspx

Tourism Corp Media Release

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