Posts Tagged ‘customer / visitor experience’
NZx -20th December 2017: Starry night
Naumai
It’s late December and the rata is flowering beautifully on the West Coast, that’s a South Islander’s version of the pohutakawa ‘Christmas tree”!
In Akaroa our lavender fields are bright purple – Akaroa Organics and ready for harvest.
In our last post for the year we’d like to share a recent experience with one of New Zealand’s leading and award winning activity operators. Checking in we were met by two foreign nationals, they were polite but curse. Unfortunately as soon as we were checked in the two staff spent most of the non contact time (about 30 minutes prior to the activity beginning) trying to redesign the retail space in front of the counter so “they could hide from people”. Really? As front line hosts,and the first personal touch-point between visitors and the company, it should be the opposite. What made it so bad was that they were so nonchalant about this, and everyone in the room who spoke good English could understand what they were saying.
Is this really the type of customer experience our award winning companies are delivering?
The actual activity was interesting but really not what it was hyped up to be. Interaction was limited and much of our time was spent looking at machinery. Trying to interpret a static object requires certain skills, especially when those components dominate the overall experience. ]
The power of marketing!
Have a great Christmas/Kirihimete and a very happy 2018!
Ka kite ano
NZx – October 31st : delivering on the promise
Naumai
It’s that time of the year again.Hopefully you have your team in place, well trained and ready to go!
Recently we took part in a discussion with Tai Poutini Polytechnic, employers and others associated with tourism on the West Coast. We discussed the opportunities and issues that involve training those involved in tourism.
Much of the discussion was based on the qualities of a guide. How do you take someone that may have all the necessary technical skill (i.e. hard) but needs coaching on the (so called “softer”) skills of guiding i.e. people management ? I think there was general agreement in the group that the biggest need was in the latter. For example how do you mentor an eighteen year old to lead, inspire, entertain and enlighten a 60 year old visitor from another country?
In this blog we look at some some of the qualities we should be training just about anyone involved in tourism, but particularly guides.
Charm / ātahu
Every person in your group is looking for information and more importantly, entertainment, from their guide. Remember we are now an entertainment centric society. A guide should always be constantly looking for opportunities to charm and involve your group in doing things, rather than just listening.
An active C drive / mātau
You may of course be a very charming person but if you don’t have the mātau then your’e on the back foot from the start. Yes you need to know facts, figures and anything else somebody on a tour might ask you. You also need to be prepared to find an answer and get back to people. Make sure you engage with everyone in the group and facilitate discussion between the group.
Stories / tito
Visitors (some) love hearing facts behind the topic of interest e.g. Tane Mahuta, but above all visitors love their guide to share a personal story about the topic. Stories engage people’s minds and more importantly hearts. Facts alone do not.
Organisation and flexibility / nahanaha
You need to be super organised and flexible if you want to be a great guide. The group will have certain expectations about what the are expecting to see. You need to deliver on those, and make sure your timing for pre-booked events is perfect. At the same time you need to be flexible. If an attraction is suddenly closed you need to find an alternative!
Humour / whakataka
Your visitors are on holiday; they want to be entertained. That includes the use of humour. It’s a skill to be developed but can ease a difficult situation, reassure visitors, make them laugh and add real value to a situation. While jokes are part of this, the most important part is you as the leader facilitating the humour in an appropriate way.
Empathy / aroha
You can be assured that somewhere, sometime, when you have a group something will happen to someone in the group. It may be lost luggage, bad news from back home, a cultural issue,or any myriad of issues. In this situation aroha will get you a long way, make your guests feel valued and can assist in solving the issue.
You can read some other interesting views of the qualities that make a great guide, and a tourism host, here and here!
Ka kite ano
Malcolm
Guiding at Maungatautari
NZx – August 22nd: A social license to operate
Naumai
Continued growth in New Zealand tourism is raising questions over it’s social license to operate. As Tourism Aotearoa states ” Tourism will only achieve our Tourism 2025 aspirational goal if we maintain and enhance our social licence to operate. We are encouraging tourism operators to recognise the importance of growing their businesses in a way which balances the economic, social and environmental impacts.”
There is no widely accepted definition of a social license to operate (SLO). However a recent paper by the Sustainable Business Council suggests key attributes include:
Ka kite ano
Just what is tourism’s social license to operate in NZ?
NZx – April 24th: “keeping the clouds and borrowing the moon”
Naumai
Visiting Dunedin is always a great experience. Next time you are there, visit the Dunedin Chinese Gardens. The Gardens reflect the contribution people from China have made, and continue to make, to Dunedin. This is an authentic experience with the picturesque and peaceful surroundings reflecting the spirit of the place and the concept of “keeping the clouds and borrowing the moon”.
Most Chinese festivals are observed by eating a particular food as a custom, and the Dragon Boat Festival is no exception. Zongzi, a pyramid-shaped glutinous rice dumpling wrapped in reed leaves, is the special food eaten to celebrate the day. It has various fillings. In north China, people favor the jujubes as the filling, while the south sweetened bean paste, fresh meat, or egg yolk.
The Dunedin Chinese Garden recently celebrated the legend of Qu Yuan, and integral part of world-wide Dragon Boat festivals. A fun family day was held with different events based around this fascinating legend. As part of celebrating the legend, the Garden’s also offered visitors the chance to try Zongzi.
Our order taken we sat in the Tea House listening to melodious singing from Tai Chi exponents. The pork Zongzi arrived but on unwrapping the glutinous rice was cold and uncooked. A new dish eventually arrived but again fell well short of an authentic warm dish. The staff did recognise the issue with a free gift which helped, but the experience failed to maximize the cultural opportunity and link to the event.
In the competitive field of visitor experiences you get one chance to make a great impression. This is even more so when you are dealing with cultural experiences. The opportunity to introduce visitors to authentic cultural based food was missed – the experience reflecting negatively on our otherwise good experience.
Ka kite ano
Zongzi
NZx December 20th: a “professional ” approach
Naumai
A recent trip to the West Coast led to the cycleway around Greymouth and Hokitika. Great concept if still some work to do. Pity about the image below, which I think is an attempt to warn us about some track maintenance.
Obviously its almost impossible to read, creates a poor image and is disrespectful of the great work being done on the cycleway.
The sign was a 15 minute drive from Hokitika, easy access!
Ka kite ano
DOC’s “professional” approach to visitor information?
NZx October 14th : Crunch summer ahead
Naumai
All the indications are that this will be a crunch summer for tourism in New Zealand.
Reports suggest many accommodation providers are full, attractions run the risk of turning people away and transport providers (particularly rental providers) have invested in new stock.
The likelihood is that international visitors will be here in increasing numbers, particularly in iconic locations. Will that create a problem with New Zealand domestic visitors seeking the relatively uncrowded experience they have been accustomed too?
Ship Cove/Meretoto in Queen Charlotte Sound is a case in point. Easily accessible by scheduled boat services, private vessel and some international cruise ships, the iconic site maybe under threat from sheer numbers this summer. The track (and it certainly isn’t of a great standard) is often quiet but from November to March that changes. At any one time the narrow track can be full of visitors, both domestic and international, throughout the day. At what stage is the visitor experience compromised?
Solutions to this “nice to have” problem are complex. Tourism New Zealand is moving to focus marketing efforts on the shoulder season, the conversation around taxing international visitors is gaining momentum and both traditional media and social media are focusing on the opportunities.
Ka kite ano
Ship Cove / Meretoto, Marlborough Sounds
NZx September 19th: Authentic
Naumai
One of the challenges for attractions is to keep the visitor experience fresh and alive. Regular change and emotional connection is a necessity of designing successful visitor experiences.
While Tilden’s https://prezi.com/s1qrbgvpu7ik/tildens-principles-of-interpretation/ principles of interpretation were written in the late 1950’s they still apply today.
Without provocation the visitor experience risks being compromised and becoming purely a source of information – after all interpretation (the art of sharing stories and experiences) is not information!
Visiting the indigenous Tjapukai Cultural Centre in Cairns recently was case in point. There has been some attempt to use Tildens principles, particularly in the areas of reveal and age related experiences. Unfortunately the low point came when we were served “authentic” bush tucker – at a table complete with porcelain plates and in cups made in China. The damper was more like commercial bread. This was probably an attempt to placate potential food safety concerns, but it may also be an attempt to cater to the large wholesale group demands.
Whichever it was definitely not an authentic experience, and did little to provocate our thinking on indigenous foods!
Visiting Tjapukai ten years ago was a highlight of the Queensland experience. We were emotionally moved but this time the sanitized experience left us cold.
Ka kite ano
indigenous food at Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park