Tourism's Game Changer

Tourism's Game Changer

Watch out tourism industry - there’s a game changer in town.

Today marks the official launch of Maverick Digital, a full-service, specialized tourism marketing agency passionate about the power of direct sales.

Maverick’s message is simple – the key to tourism business growth lies in online marketing and direct sales. Tourism operators should be investing in digital to drive direct sales, instead of chasing trade channels and their 20- 30% commission.

“The changing digital landscape offers incredible opportunities for tourism operators to target direct sales online, and that’s where Maverick comes in,” says Managing Director Alex Bayes.

But just who are these upstarts, you might ask?

The Maverick Digital team is not just made up of techies, but also tourism operators with skin in the game that have expertly used digital to drive their 1 own business growth. This is the Maverick Edge, a team of ‘tourism business owners who know technology’ rather than ‘technology experts who know little about the realities of tourism’.

Maverick’s founding directors include the owners of First Light Travel and New Zealand Trails – companies that enjoy 90% of their total sales from direct online.

Combine this experience with that of Bayes, previous editor of Tourism New Zealand’s consumer website newzealand.com, and you’ve got a team that blends top notch digital marketing expertise with real-world tourism direct sales know-how.

Maverick Digital partners with tourism operators to craft a digital presence that drives conversion. Utilizing a myriad of techniques that includes digital strategy, website optimization, SEO, campaign management and content marketing, Maverick achieves measurable direct sales results that impact clients’ bottom line.

Maverick is also a web development agency, with a proven track record creating websites for some of New Zealand’s best online tourism businesses.

“We partner with tourism operators for the long haul to build a plan that helps drive direct online sales. Because digital is so measurable, clients 2 can see the value of partnering with Maverick pretty much straightaway,” says Bayes.

An example of this is MoaTrek, a partner of Maverick’s for the past year. MoaTrek has enjoyed 38% growth from direct sales after investing in digital – pretty impressive for a company whose sales traditionally came solely from trade channels.

In operation since 2014, Maverick’s list of clients includes the likes of Tourism New Zealand, Rotorua Canopy Tours and Milford Sound Lodge.

“Engaging Maverick Digital was a smart move. What really got us over the line was the fact that all the activity, spend and returns are quantifiable and that to date, we cannot fault their professionalism and genuine eagerness to help us and our company," says General Manager of Milford Sound Lodge, Christine Wallace.

The Maverick team and their decades of tourism industry experience is what stands them apart from other digital agencies, believes “Cutting edge digital expertise is absolutely crucial, there’s no doubt about that.

“But the magic happens when this expertise is combined with hands-on industry knowledge – that’s our point of difference. That’s a game changer."

ENDS

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