Embracing social networking to travel around New Zealand in 81 days

Oct. 7, 2009 - PRLog -- Sponsor of New Zealand’s inaugural e-tourism conference at Te Papa, ONZAMAP Ltd Co-Director John Jepson is no stranger to the social networking phenomenon.  The strong link he established with AllWays Rental in Christchurch through Twitter is how he’s been able to conceive the ONZAROAD Video series.  

With AllWays providing the wheels, ONZAMAP Ltd Co-Director John Jepson will travel the length and breadth of New Zealand over 81 days accompanied by a cameraman and a web specialist, to capture the beauty and personality that New Zealand exudes.  “Every 3 days we’re going to visit another region and another 6 tourism operations.  At the end of each 3 day visit we’ll be releasing a 15 minute mini documentary on to the web,” said John.

John said “Now more than ever the tourism sector needs to nurture relationships with each other.  New Zealand’s remoteness makes it crucial for our tourism sector to use the internet well, especially during an economic downturn.  I’m really excited about the strong relationship I’ve formed with AllWays through Twitter, establishing partnerships like ours is a really strong way to help meet the goals of the national tourism strategy.”

“We are thrilled to be the official vehicle provider for the ONZAROAD tour in 2009,” said Merav Benaia, AllWays Director. “At AllWays we have identified the importance of the social networking phenomenon, the need to enhance travellers experience and collaborate with colleagues for mutual benefit. We see the relationship with ONZAMAP as an important part in growing our market position.”

“It’s a huge undertaking, but now is the time to make it happen,” said John.  New Zealand tourism businesses are waking up to the opportunities associated with social networking and we want to add to the great word of mouth publicity it can create.”

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The ONZAROAD trip will begin in Northland on November 9th, and finish in the south island’s West Coast on January 30th. Each of the 27 regional videos will be uploaded to The ONZAMAP Channel on YouTube and other video sites. Throughout the trip all experiences will be blogged and tweeted about.