Tourist operators should be checking travel websites to see what the world is saying about them, market research consultant Cristine Angus says.
Ms Angus made a presentation at Destination Queenstown's recent meeting on the results of the latest quarterly regional visitor monitor, a rolling survey of 1200 annual visitors to Queenstown.
She told members of the organisation that word-of-mouth was king in the tourism industry and more than half of all international visitors had heard about the Queenstown region that way.
She said the Internet was part of that networking, like "word-of-mouth on steroids", because it reached so many hundreds of millions of people instantly.
For that reason, tourist operators should be regularly checking Internet chat sites to see what people were saying about their businesses.
Visitors were increasingly going online before they visited and websites were the most important source of information for prospective visitors, she told the meeting.
Because visitors were also increasingly making their own bookings online, it was also essential to have a good website.
Key findings of the latest quarterly visitor survey from Angus and Associates: Queenstown visitor satisfaction is above average.
- Visitors to Queenstown spend on average $284 each, compared to $196 spent elsewhere in New Zealand destinations.
- Visitors to Queenstown want to see natural attractions, explore, recharge and refresh themselves, challenge themselves and learn about another culture.
- Half of all visitors to Queenstown eat out and like to walk while here.
- 30% of visitors shop, view mountains, visit bars and night clubs, and ride the gondola.
- 20% of visitors go to Milford Sound and take a ride on a river.
- 15% visit Te Anau, ski or snowboard.
- 10% do a bungy, have a scenic boat cruise and play golf.
- 5% kayak and raft.
- 3% come for the food, wine and mountain biking.
- Visitors to Queenstown are planning to stay longer than before and doing more while they are here.
- Australian visitor numbers to Queenstown are growing.
- Australian visitors are older than other visitors.
- More and more visitors are booking online.
