HANG ON IN THERE

Innovation isn’t hard to find in the local market

There is plenty of very clever thinking already going on in the tourism sector as the international credit crisis starts to make itself felt.

In just the course of one week we came across at least four great examples.

First up is Auckland tourism business owner, Anthony McAnulty, who has created a three phase plan to help his business through “whatever is coming”. He calls his concept Auckland 1, 2, 3.

McAnulty and his wife Marlene own the well known Eden Park Bed and Breakfast which is currently number one on Tripadvisor.com for ‘B&B in Auckland’.

Part two of the three phase plan is Auckland Ghost Tours which McAnulty aims to make a unique component of the Auckland tourism market. Its marketing invites tourists to “learn the authentic stories of the macabre and bizarre, as you are led by your Ghost Walker on this lantern-lit walking [night-time] tour around the most historic streets of Auckland City”.

McAnulty says the Ghost Tour is a fun component, a “very simple concept with low overheads”.

And the third part of the Auckland 1,2,3 concept is SuperCare4u.com “a total mobility passenger transport system, which offers a door-to-door, on-demand, pickup/drop-off service for the aged, infirm and transport disadvantaged”.

McNulty says this is a future direction for him with a specialised domestic product . “I have already found there is a tourism market spin-off for specialised transfer assistance within the hotel sector. Time will tell with this model.”

McNulty points out that all of the products he is developing are tourism based.

“I feel that it is vital to think outside the framework of what we currently do and develop parallel components that enable us to increase cash flow.”

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