Lake Taupo in Australian roadshow

The Lake Taupo region was on show all over Australia last week at a series of travel expos.

Destination Lake Taupo’s marketing coordinator, Maggie Sando, travelled to six cities in seven days promoting all Lake Taupo and its surrounding attractions have to offer.

Travel expos in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane gave Mrs Sando the opportunity to sell the region directly to consumers and travel agents.

Other New Zealand exhibitors included national tourism operators, tour companies, accommodation and transport providers, and other regional tourism organisations.

Mrs Sando estimates she had appointments with 60 travel agents through the course of the week and saw over 750 consumers.

“The consumers had all registered to attend the expos through their travel agents so, in most cases, had airfares booked but nothing else,” she says.

“Feedback was really positive. Those that hadn’t heard of the Lake Taupo region are very keen to come here and those that have been are itching to come back.”

Approximately 75 percent of the expo visitors were classified as ‘independent self-drive travellers’ and Mrs Sando says many view Lake Taupo as an excellent region from which to base themselves for further exploration.

“The fact that Australians will soon be able to fly directly into Hamilton and Rotorua is also causing quite a bit of excitement,” says Mrs Sando. “We’re right on the doorstep of both the new trans-Tasman gateways so Lake Taupo has just become even more accessible to our friends over the ditch.”