Membership Meeting 27 th October, 2008 This meeting is proudly supported by Hightrade

1. Membership Meeting 27th October, 2008 This meeting is proudly supported by Hightrade

2. Welcome John Drayton President - HVWCT

3. Andrew Montague Chief Executive Officer - HVWCT

4. Our Role • Provide Members with opportunities to market their products • Gatekeepers of the Wine Country Website • Motivate Consumers to travel to HVWC • Look after Visitors and provide them with service

5. Membership & Visitors Services Peta Jackson Membership & Business Services Manager - HVWCT

6. Visitors Centre Do you wish to touch consumers? • Month on month, high visitation to the Visitors Centre • 170,000 visitors into the centre in 2007 • Please keep our staff up to date with your news – TELL US EVERYTHING…. • Brochures – please ensure we have a stock of your brochures, especially cellar doors, restaurants and tours. • We offer free Book Easy training

7. Specials Board / Over the counter & phone bookings are still very high. • 24 Hour Book Easy operators – encourage you to keep your rates and availability up to date. Staff and Customers use the Book Easy system on a daily basis. • Gold Book Easy operators are receiving more online bookings as consumers wish to book immediately.

8. Marketing Report Hiedi Duckworth Marketing Manager - HVWCT

9. 2008/09 Strategic Plan • Research • Online Strategy • Regional Dispersal • Co-operative Campaigns • Trade & Consumer Events • Visitors Guide, Wedding Guide & Map • Conference Department

10. Setting the Tourism Scene Domestic & HVWC Situation Analysis DOMESTIC – According to Tourism Research Australia * Performing poorly over the past few years - in decline. * Australians are travelling less often and for shorter periods of time. * The appeal of domestic travel is declining in relation to outbound (overseas) travel although the global financial meltdown is expected to change this trend. * The most popular activities for domestic visitors were wine tasting (75%), purchasing wine (65%) and sampling food and other produce (29.5%).

11. HVWC – According to BA Market Surveys HVWC has displayed positive visitation growth since 2004 2004 2,338,939 2005 2,367,624 +1.2% 2006 2,514,606 +6.2% 2007 2,711,199 +7.8% Total Tourism Dollar Spend 2007: Cellar Door: $71,936,462 + 1.2% Accommodation: $74,166,143 + 22.7% Restaurants & Cafes: $49,275,208 + 5.4% Total Spend: $195,377,800 + 9.0% Major Outcomes for 2007 • Substantial growth in Accommodation and Restaurant inventory • The June Queens Birthday weekend storms impacted negatively on visitor and revenue numbers • The Flood Relief campaign started on the 19th August, 2007, with successes displayed in the following charts. • Cellar Door sales suffered two of the worst growth months since 2003 with June and July during the flood crisis period, with -24.6% and -16.3% respectively

12. 2007 Million Miles - Flood Relief TV Campaign

13. 2002 Take Time For a Little Hunting TV Campaign

14. Hunter Valley Wine Country Visitor Profile According to Tourism Research Australia, Visitors to the Hunter Valley are likely to be: • Adult couples (49%) or groups • From NSW (88%) with 57% originating from Sydney, (44% of these from the Northern Sydney areas) • 25-54 years of age, with a slightly larger proportion (28%) in the 25-34 age bracket • No children – Empty Nesters and DINKS • On a short break (average of 2.4 nights) • Professionals with a household income of >$70,000 • Travelling by private vehicle (82%) • Coming to ‘taste/drink/buy wine (56%) and to ‘relax and unwind’ (45%), • 22% state wine as being the single most important reason for visiting, followed by ‘time with my partner’ at 11% • 72% have visited the Hunter Valley previously • 43% stay in luxury accommodation, 17% in guesthouse or B&B, 14% in motel, 1% in caravan park and the remainder was unspecified.

15. Trends in Consumer Behaviour • The travel industry is undergoing massive structural reorganisation • Shorter lead times to make bookings - 90% of overnight visitors made their decision to visit the Hunter Valley at least 2-3 weeks in advance. • The internet is fast becoming the method of choice for visitors to book their accommodation - Of the 90% of overnight visitors who decided to book, the internet was used by around half to make their accommodation booking. They want it and they want it NOW! • The internet is fostering direct-to-consumer sales by operators and travel suppliers • Travel consumers are utlising web 2.0 technologies and are exchanging information and exerting much greater influence over online content - from travel blogs to social networking. MySpace etc

16. Online Strategy 2008 Landscape “Online may be getting more important than a 30 second TV Spot” …..Joel Ewanick – Hyundai USA HVWCT has 3 Main Areas of Focus for our online strategy in 2008-2009 Findability Usability Design & Content Can Customers Find It? Can Customers Use It? Is it Relevant? • Value to Members • Value to Consumers • Repeat Visits to Website • High SE rankings • Higher Visitation to HVWC • Members & Region Prosper

17. * Findability *Usability *Design & Content Findability Usability Design & Content Create, Engage, Measure, Analyse, Improve • Findability incorporates finding the site (not just via search engines), finding your way once on the site, finding the content users want. • HVWCT will continue to place major importance on SEO & SEM Projects which are increasingly expensive and complex. • Keep it simple • Flash is not friendly • Know the end user… ensure the site satisfies their goals–can they use it? • Design site for humans, not for search engines • Don’t use internal language or slang • Encourage Member interaction to keep content up to date • Keep it relevant - What does the user want to know rather than what do we want to tell them? • Keep the Design Simple, Don’t change it too much, Make sure navigation is easy to interpret • Value to Members • Value to Consumers • Repeat Visits to Website • High SE rankings • Higher Visitation to HVWC • Members & Region Prosper

18. www.winecountry.com.au 79,000 visits to our site in September We now have the ability to track visitation to members info sheets Examples of Views of Info Sheets from Mid July 2008 Hotel in Pokolbin 1853 Boutique hotel (20 rooms) 1659 Attraction 1519 Local Day Tour Operator 1502 Pub in Cessnock 1473 Guesthouse Hermitage Rd 1278 Self Contained Cottages 1206 Budget Accommodation 1088 Winery (not in Pokolbin) 1050 Restaurant 994 Small Bed & Breakfast 647

19. Regional dispersal • Further Development of Trails and Map for 2009 Edition • Wine Trails and Experience Based Trails • Will add value to map users and visitor experiences • Further Development of Map as a stand alone product and mass distribution of an extra 100,000 maps through relevant distribution channels. • Website now has improved Townships and Communities Page with Links to Not for Profit organisations • Media Famils visiting all regions of HVWC (Daily Telgraph – Lovedale, Winsor Dobbin – Lovedale & Broke, Steve Abbott – Selector Mag – Broke, Henry Barchet – Wollombi plus many other visits)

20. Co-operative Campaigns • Winter In Wine Country Below the Line Campaign • TNSW/HRTO/HVWCT Spring / Autumn TV Campaign • Selector Life, Food, Wine • Complete Weddings Sydney Feature • Gourmet Traveller Wine Feature The benefits of and results from co-operative campaigns speak for themselves. We encourage members to see the positive outcomes from these campaigns and to appreciate their value to us as a destination. Without members large and small pooling their funds, we would be unable to create effective advertising campaigns. • Small Operators totalled just under 50% of participants • Over $45,000 worth of bookings and over $500,000 worth of publicity value for $23,000 outlay • Originally one buy in option. HVWCT negotiated 2 lower level options to cater to all members. Members able to buy into a TV campaign for as little as $150 • Seed funded by HVWCT & CCC • Dollar for Dollar Funding thru TNSW

21. Trade & Consumer Events INTERNATIONAL • ATE • OzTalk New Zealand • ATEC workshop & HRTO mini expo • Corroboree North America • DOMESTIC • Good Food & Wine Shows Sydney and Brisbane • HVWIA Events – Uncorked Balmoral, Sydney Cellar Door • Travel Shows – Sydney Travel Expo • Sydney Bridal Show – Fox Studios All Members are represented at these events when the Visitors Guide is distributed. The Visitors Guide motivates consumers to choose the Hunter Valley.

23. Visitors Guide, Wedding Guide & Map Distribution of 250,000 Visitors Guides Travel Shows and Trade Events Members Outlets Car Hire Companies Tourism NSW Offices Sydney Hotel Concierge Visitors Centres in NSW Via requests from our website Distribution of an additional 100,000 maps Inserts into publications such as Gourmet Traveller Wine Wine Selector wine deliveries Distribution of Wedding Guides Inserts into Bridal Magazines – 16,000 Modern Wedding - 10,000 Bride to Be Magazine Sydney Bridal Expo Via requests from our website Inserted into Packages sent from VIC Introduction of Ashish Ghoshal – Conference Manager

24. ConferenceDepartment • Conference Marketing Plan, E-Marketing Strategy and PR Plan prepared • Hunter Valley Convention Bureau registered • New website www.huntervalleyconferencing.com registered • Web pages for the new website being developed with dedicated focus on conferencing, incentives and events business • Master database of over 2,950 Corporates and PCO’s prepared for E-Marketing • Increase in the number of sales leads per month Ashish to hand back to Andrew

25. Thank you Hightrade Cessnock City Council Board of Management CIBIS Members Management & Staff