To ensure CEDA’s work as the Regional Tourism Organisation for Palmerston North city and Manawatū is effective in creating positive sentiment for the destination, we commissioned leading global destination marketing agency Destination Think! to monitor the Tourism Sentiment Index (TSI) for Manawatū.
The TSI report provides destinations with a way to benchmark and measure visitor perceptions and experiences of the region.
After three years of monitoring and measuring, we now have a solid picture of insights and growth. The latest report for 2019 revealed Manawatū has an overall tourism sentiment score of 52 out of 100, higher than the median score across our destination’s comparative regions of 51. Palmerston North city and Manawatū’s score has improved by 13-points from 2017, reinforcing the need for a long-term approach to the marketing and management of a destination.
The current climate and national visitor economy is still filled with uncertainty, so it is essential that we take a long-term approach to ensure our marketing is long-tail and high impact, and is targeted to the high value visitors to the region. As the Regional Tourism Organisation for the region, CEDA are focused on the strategic, long-term approach, not a band aid solution.
The importance of the report
The TSI reports for 2017, 2018 and 2019 provided unbiased and detailed insights into what people are saying about our region and our key tourism assets. The report analyses data from over 500,000 sources including media sites, forums, websites, social media platforms and review platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TripAdvisor.
The report insights will help us to better identify and understand strengths, weaknesses and opportunities as well as inform strategic decisions and planning for current and future projects and marketing activity.
Key Take Outs:
- Areas that generated strong sentiment were found to be ‘food and beverage’, in particularly ‘restaurants’ and ‘pubs’, along with ‘festivals and events’ and ‘street and public art.’
- Outdoor activities such as cycling, biking, hiking, hunting, wildlife viewing and nature photography held high sentiment scores, and high volumes of online conversations.
- Conventions and business events was an area of growth across the three reports, with a lift in sentiment of 26-points from 2017.
Overall, the report identifies that tourism sentiment for Palmerston North city and Manawatu is rising and the destination management work underway is proving effective in creating positive increased positive conversations for the destination.
