Destination Cambridge is the promotional body for Cambridge and is a member based Incorporated Society. We also run the Cambridge isite Visitor Information Centre and are based in the Cambridge Town Hall.
Our mission is to promote Cambridge to domestic and international visitors, as an attractive, authentic, “must visit” destination for events and leisure experiences.
Our website www.cambridge.co.nz is the best source of information on events, attractions, activities, accommodation and the community, actively promoting and selling Cambridge to visitors and residents. As a membership society, we promote our Members first and foremost to the visitor market – you can find out more about membership by emailing manager@cambridge.co.nz
The Cambridge isite Visitor Information Centre has a wealth of information on not just Cambridge, but all of New Zealand, and our staff are trained to assist in any travel, accommodation and activity enquiries. We are affiliated to the national isite network, known as the “Visitor Information Network”. isites are an important part of the distribution channel for New Zealand tourism businesses. There are over 60 isite’s around New Zealand, which provide international visitors, domestic travelers and locals with comprehensive, up-to-date information and a New Zealand-wide booking service for activities, attractions, accommodation and transport. The Cambridge isite Visitor Information Centre offers an excellent platform for local operators and service providers to promote and sell their businesses and events. Your can find out more about the isite network HERE
TheCambridge isite Visitor Information Centre offers:
FREE Information & Maps
We have a great selection of free maps and local and national brochures, as well as AA travel guides for New Zealand. Our professional staff can assist you with all your enquiries. Brochures are for travel, accommodation, activities and events. Members get free brochure display space (DLE) at the isite. We also sell Roadmaps for all of NZ and some Topo Maps.
Tours & Bike Hire
We provide Bike Hire from Cambridge isite Visitor Information Centre. We can book attractions such as Hobbiton, Sanctuary Mountain (Ecological Reserve) and the Waitomo Caves, as well as local activities like jetboating, glowworm, kayak trips and more. We also run rural tours such as Alpacas and Dairy Farm Tours
Travel and Accommodation
We can easily organize your travel itineraries, local or national. We are agents for Bus, Train and Ferry services. We can also organize Rental Car Hire, local transport and airport transfers. We are experts in accommodation and offer a wide variety of local options from camping grounds to luxury hotels – and can also book for you nationwide.
Outdoor Adventures
We hire personal locator beacons and stock Doc Hut tickets, freeze dried food, topographical maps, and other outdoor products.
Souvenirs
Our gift shop stocks a range of local and New Zealand souvenirs. We have a great selection of Cambridge and Kiwiana themed gifts, travel items, skincare products, children’s toys, jewellery, manuka honey and so much more. Our NZ Made Possum Merino range from Lothlorian is very popular and includes jackets, ponchos, vests, gloves, hats, scarves and more.
Hamilton & Waikato Tourism Ltd (HWT) is our Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO).
Their role is to attract domestic and international visitors and increase length of stay and expenditure through effective destination marketing, development, and management activity. They encourage visitors to enjoy the many great experiences our region has to offer and in turn contribute valuable economic, social and cultural benefits to our communities.
Working under a private-public partnership model, they receive funding from, and represent, our seven city and district councils, including: Hamilton City Council, Waipa District Council, Waikato District Council, South Waikato District Council, Waitomo District Council, Otorohanga District Council, Matamata Piako District Council.
The funding enables them to undertake core promotional activities to market the Waikato as a preferred destination for domestic and international business, events and leisure travellers, as well as provide leadership in regional product and event development, investment, and sector capability.
For further information about working with HWT and how the RTO can assist your tourism business, click on the link below.
https://www.waikatonz.com/about-us/about-hamilton-waikato-tourism/
Is your www.cambridge.co.nz website listing the best it can be?
Our website gets over 10,000 hits a month and growing, and provides many leads to our Members – so….. is your website listing the best first impression you can give? Does it tell the customer all the essential information they need to take the next step of booking online or picking up the phone, or heading to your own website? Now is a good time to check yours. Forgotten your login? No problems – just email us at info@cambridge.co.nz or call 07 823 3456 to reset or get us to update it for you.
Here are our top tips for what makes a good listing on our website:
Photos, photos, photos. We cannot stress how important these are and how much that first impression counts. If you can, get a photographer in to take shots of your business or property. If you can’t, modern phones take some great photos. Don’t include unnecessary images that don’t add value, just for the sake of it. More isn’t always better. Try to take square or landscape shots, not portrait. Photos need to be jpeg format (which is what your phone takes). If you have access to Photoshop or similar – 850 pixels wide and a max of 2000 pixels is recommended.
Check your contact details – are they accurate – email, phone, website address
Pricing – Is your pricing up to date? You can put a range in.
BOOK NOW button – have you integrated with 24 hour or instant book platforms, and if you have – is the link added to your listing? We are not limited to Bookit – you can link to other channel managers and bookings systems.
Video – can be added – Vimeo or YouTube link
Terms and Conditions – NEW FEATURE – you can now add in your cancellation policy and any other terms and conditions which people can click on. If your cancellation policy differs to ours – ensure you notify us via email too please.
Opening hours are stated, if applicable
Have you listed your features? Your point of difference or specialty? Examples include pet friendly, secure bike storage, rural setting, farm animals you can get up close to etc.
Qualmark is the New Zealand Tourism industrys official quality assurance organisation.
When you see a business displaying the Qualmark symbol, it means that it meets strict quality standards and environmental criteria. It assists tourists in identifying high quality places to stay, things to do and ways to get around. Qualmark helps businesses become more sustainable from a people, planet and profit perspective. They do this by assessing your business, and working with you to ensure your business remains competitive and current in the changing operating environment. The onsite assessment is conducted by a tourism expert, so you get lots of great feedback, ideas and opportunities to ensure the experience you deliver is constantly improving.
There is a cost to the evaluation – so you need to weigh up what is right for your business size and strategy. If you are unsure, contact us for more information. Most importantly, Tourism NZ and Hamilton Waikato Tourism endorse Qualmark businesses and will market them to a wider audience and operators both here and overseas – so if you want to scale up, this should be a serious consideration.
To find out how it works, click here
Official website www.qualmark.co.nz
A free listing on www.newzealand.com puts your products in front of over 51 million visitors to the website each year.
It is a great way to extend your business reach to International visitors. Once your listing is approved, it will feed to partner sites of Tourism New Zealand’s content network – such as Hamilton Waikato Tourisms website www.waikatonz.com
You will also reach global travel sellers through the travel trade website and “Explore” programme offers. Any New Zealand based operator, that offers a bookable tourism product, and offshore travel sellers that promote and sell travel to New Zealand, can list their products and services in the Operator Database.
Register and start the process here: www.register.newzealand.com/en/home/
Working with the international travel market:
Tourism New Zealand works with travel sellers across all key offshore markets to ensure they have a good understanding of New Zealand, that they offer the products Tourism New Zealand’s target market wants to buy and that they are passionate about selling New Zealand as a holiday destination. Each office does this in a way that works best for their individual market, including: partnering with travel sellers in both consumer and trade marketing campaigns and assisting them with promoting New Zealand, bringing travel sellers to New Zealand on famil to build their knowledge of New Zealand regions and products, training frontline travel sellers (both face to face and via webinar) to help them increase the value of their New Zealand itineraries.
To find out more about Travel Trade, and to download their “tips for working in the export travel tourism market” follow this link:
Google My Business is a free and easy-to-use tool for businesses and organizations to manage their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps. By verifying and editing your business information, you can both help customers find you and tell them the story of your business. This is a super important tool in todays world where nearly everyone starts their search for information online.
Manage how your business information appears across Google, including Search and Maps, using Google My Business — for free.
Interact with customers new and old and tell them the story of your business. It is super important to set this up and ‘own” your listing, and its not too hard to do………Rachael and Miff are both knowledgeable in this area and can assist. You do need to have a gmail/google account to do this.
Head to google.com/business to understand the benefits and to get started on yours.
BOOKiT is an online accommodation booking platform that is able to integrate easily onto your website, and other websites you want to place it – like ours. It is a Hamilton based company, and is also used by i-SITES around New Zealand – assisting you in your visibility and bookings from all around New Zealand. They have over a decade of experience in the NZ tourism industry and work with over 3,500 tourism businesses nationwide
BOOKiT is able to handle rates, displaying specials, assigning discount codes, payment and settlement terms, cancellation policies, multiple currency payments, partial payments, on request and real time bookings. The BookiT system also handles add-ons (like pick up locations or inclusions like lunches), along with any other data your business needs to collect from customers. BookiT is designed to be your business’s one-stop shop for online bookings.
There are no set up fees, monthly fees or contracts. BOOKiT takes a small percentage of the value of any booking made. It is mobile, tablet and social media friendly, as well as being cloud based so you can manage it on the go.
Find out all you need to know by heading HERE, or contact us
WorkSafe is New Zealand’s primary workplace health and safety regulator. On their website you will find all the resources you need for H&S in accordance with the Health & Safety at Work Act 2015. The website is https://worksafe.govt.nz/
Some quick links for you:
Introduction to managing H&S at Work
Quick reference guide to H&S at Work
Small to Medium business owners guide
Please note that Waipa has it’s own regulations around Accommodation. In general, if you are a residential accommodation provider, you need a resource consent if you sleep over 10 people, for rural properties it is over 15. Please refer to www.waipadc.govt.nz for more information
We often get asked for recommendations re channel managers or booking platforms.
What is a channel manager? Channel Management is the process of managing several online booking systems in one platform – so you only have to update and use one platform and can safely manage your bookings in real time and often from your phone. It means you can make your inventory available online in several locations at once, and when you get a booking in one it updates your availability across all booking systems. It also allows you to directly connect with agents, such as OTAs (Online Travel Agencies), as well as smaller retail agents in different markets.
We cannot recommend what you use but we can tell you what are most commonly used by our members. As each business is different you need to evaluate what is right for you. For example a casual B&B vs a motel. Platforms that our members do use are listed below.
Booking platforms (some of which are also channel managers):
Booking.com, BOOKit, Expedia, Tripadvisor, Trivago, Wotif, agoda, Book-a-bach, AA, Holiday Houses, Home&away, Little hotelier, Nestay, preno,smartres, Seekom, tourism.net, Travelbug
Channel Managers:
Siteminder, Little hotelier, Smart, Clarity, ibex, logify, netromz (?), seekom, STAAH, Strait reservations, Style
The Tiaki Promise is a commitment to care for New Zealand, for now and for future generations. It is a Tourism New Zealand initiative.
As Ambassadors for New Zealand, and as a point of contact for our visitors, our role is to advise tourists of the Tiaki promise and encourage them to stand by it. The promise educates tourists about how we treat and respect our country and what our values are, and asks them to do the same whilst they are here. To act as a guardian, protecting and preserving our home. The Tiaki promise:
While travelling in New Zealand, I will
How to care for New Zealand
You can learn more about the Tiaki Promise, watch their video, and sign up to it here: www.tiakinewzealand.com
The New Zealand Tourism Sustainability Commitment aims to see every New Zealand tourism business committed to sustainability by 2025 – their Vision is to “Lead the World in Sustainable Tourism”. To deliver on this, they are inviting every New Zealand tourism business to join up now to the Tourism Sustainability Commitment and adopt 14 Commitments that will ensure they achieve our goals. Together we can create a truly sustainable tourism industry that makes a positive and enduring contribution to Aotearoa New Zealand.
Its not just about environmental sustainability – there is more to it than that, and by taking up the commitment you will learn about what changes you can make in your business to contribute, and often it is better for your business. For example we gave our printing requirements a re-think within the i-SITE and have moved as much as we can online and direct to customers, saving 50% on our printing costs.
The idea is to achieve ambitious economic goals which will benefit supportive host communities, contributing to restoring, protecting and enhancing our natural environment, and continuing to be a high quality destination of choice for domestic and international travelers.
Find out more and sign up here www.sustainabletourism.nz
Cambridge is close to some of New Zealand's major international attractions like Hobbiton, Waitomo Caves, Hamilton Gardens and Tauranga. Yet with plenty of unique local attractions, events and dining options - and a friendly, relaxed town ambience - you may not want to leave!
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