Free spending money – Tourism’s newest drawcard
Westpac bank Cook Islands and Cook Islands Tourism Corporation launched the Mataora card Wednesday night with the first one presented to the Finance Minister Hon Mark Brown.
The Mataora card will be rolled out over the next 6 months and effective in about December this year.
The Mataora card is an incentive to encourage visitors to come to the Cook Islands. Visitors booking to come to the Cook Islands will basically receive $100-$200 free spending money on a Mataora card for them to use during their visit here.
In other countries, like Fiji, Singapore, Australia, the tourism industry offers a tax-back incentive to visitors to encourage them to spend money in that country where you present your receipts at the airport and the tax you paid is immediately credited back to your credit card.
The Cook Islands is the first country in the Pacific region to offer the Mataora card initiative. Details of how to accept the Mataora card will be explained at a later date but tourist operators and businesses will be given training over a 3-month period on how to accept and process the card. Westpac has a one year exclusive on this initiative after which time the Bank of the Cook Islands (BCI) and ANZ bank will also be brought on board and introduced throughout the region.
The picture chosen for the front of the card is one of the most popular pictures selected by visitors from the tourism archives.
Cook Islands Tourism have previously offered visitors that they have enticed at trade shows with a Farmers shopping voucher, so the Mataora card will see some of our marketing dollars used within the country instead of overseas. The Mataora card is one of the new exciting ideas among several others that are expected to stimulate visitor spending especially during the low season. – JM

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