Luxury New Zealand travel website launched for Indonesia

A new luxury website and social media activity targeting Indonesians interested in travelling to premium destinations have today been launched by Auckland Airport as part of its Ambition 2020 initiative, designed to grow greater value from international arrivals to New Zealand.

www.luxurynz.co.id, www.facebook.com/luxurynz.indonesia and @LuxuryNZ_ID were created to engage and influence affluent Indonesians interested in international travel by showcasing the very best New Zealand has to offer, with information tailored to their needs, preferences and language (they are bilingual sites, presented in the official language of Bahasa Indonesia and English) and by capitalising on their love of the Internet and social media.

"Our new luxury website, Facebook page and Twitter accounts were born out of a need to better communicate with and promote a more compelling premium tourism product to Indonesia, which is a  burgeoning market for New Zealand," says Glenn Wedlock, Auckland Airport General Manager Aeronautical Commercial.

"Indonesia is forecast to be one of the fastest-growing outbound tourism markets by 2020 according to our analysis. Indonesia's wealthy segment is growing extremely rapidly and as a result outbound travellers from that country are sophisticated and demand a high-quality travel experience. We saw a need to be more visible and in touch with them in a way that complements how they receive their information."

Visitors to the www.luxurynz.co.id can take advantage of packages on offer to New Zealand and buy directly through the website.

Working with Auckland Airport to create the initiative is Indonesian social media expert, David Chalklen, who is currently in New Zealand as part of the Auckland Airport International Speaker Series at TRENZ. Mr Chalklen says Indonesians are set to be the highest users of the internet in South East Asia by the end of this year.

"It is projected that Indonesians will outstrip other South East Asian countries in their appetite for browsing the 'net', with at least 35 million Indonesians using the Internet by the end of 2012, ahead of the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore.  Indonesians currently spend about 14 hours a week on the Internet, and growing," he says.

Furthermore, Indonesians are avid users of social media with more than three quarters of 15 to 50 years using social media sites in 2010, up from just over a half the year before.

"It's predicted that 79 million people in Indonesia will be using Facebook by 2014, up from 35 million at the start of last year. Jakarta has more Facebook accounts than any other city in the world, with 17.4 million accounts or 80 per cent penetration.  It's without a doubt the most effective way to reach middle-class and affluent Indonesians," adds Mr Chalklen.

"Auckland Airport's investment in using the internet and social media platforms through the launch of its luxury New Zealand website will go a long way in reaching this digitally-savvy audience and will influence their future international travel-making decisions."

Auckland Airport's luxury New Zealand website is just one part of the Airport's strategy to project a more premium offering of New Zealand to key markets and help change pre-conceptions of what New Zealand can provide.

“The website and social media activity sits alongside other premium marketing activity such as international celebrity ambassador tours from key markets like Indonesia. Indonesian television personality Farah Quinn is nearing the end of a week-long tour to New Zealand which she will promote back home via her one million fans on Facebook and 237,000 followers on Twitter," says Mr Wedlock.

According to Auckland Airport’s Ambition 2020 initiative, announced last week, Indonesia and other ASEAN markets such as Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore are vitally important as they are growing quickly and could easily develop into $100 million plus visitor spend markets for New Zealand.