by Rod Drury

At least in the Koru lounge these days there is wifi. I have no idea why they make the key so impossibly hard to type into an iPhone or iPod Touch but at least it’s free.

San Jose International Airport is free for all. Everywhere. On the iPod touch I could click on, check email, see how many Xero accounts we sold last night, log into iTunes and grab a few TEDcasts and songs for the next leg of the trip.

For our international visitors arriving in Auckland what is their first impression of us? They’ve been disconnected for 14 hours and their business day is in full swing when they arrive at 5am our morning. Turn on their laptop and - nothing. Welcome to the backwater that is New Zealand. A great place to holiday. When they check in at their hotel they can check their email. At $24 a day.

Wouldn’t it be a better experience for visitors arriving at Auckland International Airport if they flip on their iPhones and laptops and immediate see “Welcome to New Zealand. We know you’re travelled a long way to get here. Please use our free wifi to check everything is well at home so you can relax and enjoy your stay.”

The Rugby World Cup will be here soon. 70,000 visitors to our country. A big proportion will be influencers who will always have an affinity with New Zealand. As they come in we could grab them at the border: “Welcome to the Rugby World cup. Give us your email address and your mobile data and local calls will be $1 a day. Each morning we’ll tell you what’s happening in your area.”

“Tell us what business you’re in? New Zealand companies would love to invite you in for a glass of wine and show you what they’re doing.”

GPS enabled mobiles will be the norm by them. Martin Sneddon could know where all of his 70,000 visitors are each morning.
Imagine an electronic scavenger hunt where we set our visitors fun activities leading them to engage with New Zealanders all over the country.

Will Vodafone and Telecom have Rugby World Cup SIM cards? Our visitors are going to need phones to work like walkie talkies as they arrange to meet up with travel friends. International roaming charges leave everyone with a bad taste.

Every visitor to New Zealand is what anyone in sales would call a ‘hot lead’. Companies spend a fortune to get leads. What do we do as a country? Is a hot lead worth the cost of some free wifi?

Thinking about how we present ourselves to visitors as they enter our country has a disproportionate benefit to our national brand. Leveraging technology to engage with our visitors and build an ongoing relationship with them is simply good business.