Heather Mollins, the new Sydney-based Tourism Dunedin business development manager, first visited Dunedin this month, and decided she would have no difficulties marketing the city.
"I have been very impressed by what I have seen so far."
As part of her induction, Ms Mollins (26), formerly of Wellington, has experienced various Dunedin tourism products, including trips on the Taieri Gorge Railway, and Monarch, on Otago Harbour. She said the city had plenty to offer the important Australian market.
The key to attracting more tourists from Australia, New Zealand's biggest international visitor market, was to raise the profile of the city, and celebrity endorsements were a proven method, she said.
She had experienced first-hand the pulling power of endorsements after managing the international media programme for Tourism New Zealand in the United Kingdom for the past year. She worked on projects featuring Los Angeles Galaxy footballer David Beckham, television celebrity Jack Osbourne, and Flight of the Conchords comedian Rhys Darby.
Images of celebrities, such as Beckham being welcomed with a traditional hongi, were picked up by major newspapers in the United Kingdom, and this method of marketing could help promote Dunedin to Australians, she said.
An option would be to have Australian comedians Hamish Blake and Andy Lee visit Dunedin, as they were regulars on the television show Rove, hosted a radio show, were featured in newspapers and wrote blogs.
Finding Dunedin story ideas and pitching them to Australian media would be another part of her role, to get maximum exposure for minimal expense.
Building interest in the city would lead to more demand, she said.
In Dunedin, tourism was the second industry behind education and had the potential for growth, Ms Mollins said.
Retaining and increasing the number of transtasman flights from Dunedin to Australia's east coast would be a key component of her role.
Chief executive Hamish Saxton said with Tourism Dunedin the only regional tourism organisation to have a full-time staff member based in Australia, the appointment of Ms Mollins was a critical one.
"To drive tourism further is about building our profile. Heather is going to continue our work in Australia because you can't manage a market living away from it."
