As I’m writing this NZ tourism is more or less non-existent. As it is Worldwide.
But over the next few months, New Zealand is going to slowly open up.
And with the economy in a battle in the short term, there’s a support NZ local movement taking place.
What does it mean? Wherever possible buy from locally-owned businesses.
It’s annoying that despite the momentum this movement is getting McDonald’s managed to run out of food at some restaurants. I’m pretty sure the support local movement excludes McDonald’s…
Anyway, the movement is wicked awesome and is something I’ve been thinking about over the last year or so for the tourism industry.
Supporting local businesses isn’t the top reason we travel. But it’s something we’re happy to do on a subconscious level.
But it’s time to bring this support local movement to a conscious level.
The following 7 ideas are evergreen. Meaning that they’re ways you can support local businesses whenever you’re travelling.
1. BOOK DIRECTLY WITH ACCOMMODATION PROVIDERS
All these companies are owned by the same company. Try and book directly with the hotel property if you can, assuming they’ll price match.
When you book accommodation do you jump straight onto sites like Booking.com, HostelWorld.com, Agoda.com?
Awesome. Me too.
These sites are great, and it’s most accommodation providers are on these sites. They have to be if they want to get in front of people.
But, while they serve a great purpose, Booking.com/Agoda.com etc are businesses and need to earn a profit.
They do this by charging the properties a commission for each booking made through their site. And in almost all cases, this commission doesn’t stay in New Zealand.
e.g. Booking.com is registered as a company in the Netherlands. From what I can gather Booking.com charges 12% (source). So if you book $1000 of hotel stays through Booking.com, $120 of this is money that is going off shore.
All the sites charge a different amount, but interestingly all these companies are owned by one company, Booking Holdings, based in the USA:
- Booking.com
- Kayak.com
- Agoda.com
- HotelsCombined.com
- Momondo.com
Crazy!
So if you do see a great price on one of these sites, get in touch with the property, and see if they’ll price match the offer you see. Who knows, you might discover they are cheaper on the direct website.
If they don’t want to price match, then I’m all for looking after yourself as I can’t think of a valid reason they’d not match the price. It has happened to me in the past though.
Oh, and if you Google the name of a hotel in Google to go directly to their website, avoid clicking on the ad. That money goes straight to Google.
2. BOOK YOUR TOURIST EXPERIENCES DIRECT
Daily deal sites have flowed into travel more and more (Hey there Groupon). I’ve definitely used them, and likely will in the future. But exactly like with accommodation providers, I’ll be trying to book with the companies direct if they’ll price match the offer I find.
3. USE YOURRIDE
If you compare YourRide vs Uber vs Ola from a pure price point of view, YourRide isn’t too far behind Uber (Ola in a distant third).
But when you consider:
- YourRide is an NZ owned and operated business
- and YourRide supports the ‘old school’ taxi drivers
YourDrive becomes a no brainer when you’re in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. Hopefully over time, they’ll be able to expand to different cities.
* In theory, drivers might earn more for a ride with Ola given they’re more expensive, but I don’t want you to go paying over the top prices 🙂
COMPLETE POST: COMPARING YOURDRIVE VS UBER VS OLA
4. SIGN THE TIAKI PROMISE
This one doesn’t cost you anything but will help keep New Zealand beautiful now and in the future.
Be a nice person.
LEARN MORE: ABOUT THE TIAKI PROMISE
5. LEAVE REVIEWS ON PLACES YOU LIKE
This is a simple good deed that you can do that’s super quick. But the effects can have an impact.
Had a nice experience somewhere?
Leave them a positive review (let’s not just go adding negative reviews for places we got ripped off at). You can leave reviews everywhere these days:
- Trip Advisor
- Google Maps
- Maps.me
- Yelp
- Trust Pilot
- On Booking.com (if you can’t sort out a booking with the property directly)
p.s. for brownie points, send the business a quick thankyou email/,essage 🙂
6. SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
This is a super simple thing. Talk about the places you’ve been, and where you’ve loved. You never know who might follow in your footsteps.
Oh, and if you end up going somewhere based on someone’s recommendation, thank them afterward. One of the most satisfying feelings is having someone take you up on your recommendation, and being thanked for doing so 😀 #cheesy
7. BUY A GIFT CARD IF YOU LOVED AN EXPERIENCE
It’s all well and good to tell your friends and family you loved an experience, but how about putting some real skin in the game and buying a gift voucher?
Obviously this won’t be available everywhere, but it’s a great way of showing support to a business.
Some of these are free, some of these won’t cost you any more than you’d be paying, and some of these will see you paying a bit more.
With that said, let’s do our best to support local businesses as we travel. Not just now but forever, yea?
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