Not All Doom And Gloom

How refreshing to talk to two clients this week who are seeing a positive side in all the economic doom and gloom.

Living in a resort town where the local economy runs on a combination of tourism and construction you wouldn’t be surprised if all was doom and gloom here. But there is light amongst all the darkness. So I thought I’d do my little bit to turning the tide of sentiment…

You see the recession hitting elsewhere in the world — we’ve been feeling it for longer than most countries — has joined with other factors to force our dollar to a more reasonable level after historic highs. Good news for an export reliant economy. And good news for people, like my clients, in tourism.

It seems New Zealand is a good option for those who don’t want to give up on their travel plans but want to be a bit careful about the cost of their travel. So both clients have very good bookings for the coming winter’s ski season…

NZ is a good option for Australian skiers because it is often cheaper and better than their local ski holiday options. And it becomes an even better option when the regular visit to Japan or North America seemed inprudent… Businesses around town report things are looking good for the winter.

And NZ is always a popular option for UK travellers taking time out from study or career. An option with less opportunity cost when jobs are scarce and costing less with our exchange rate to the pound as it is…

So I have clients with growing traffic that converts… Not all doom and gloom for them.

And not all doom and gloom for me with a Tourism NZ conference stressing the need for businesses to have effective websites.

Anyway. Just wanted to put some of the bright side out there because I, like many people, have tired of the dark side as the media’s vulture-like surveillance of the economy dominates the news.