27 Jun 2009
Eastern Bay a ray of sunshine at fieldays
The Eastern Bay of Plenty added a welcome touch of sunshine to the national Fieldays at Mystery Creek, Hamilton, last month.
Toi-EDA staff manned a colourful stand at the event, promoting the Eastern Bay of Plenty as a visitor and lifestyle destination. Capitalising on massive national publicity about Whakatane's sunshine hours, the stand had a "golden sunshine" theme designed by artist staff member Adrienne Ranson, and it certainly drew plenty of attention.
Those manning the stand were kept busy speaking to more than 5000 people, many of whom said they had already been to the district and regarded it as a great holiday and fishing destination.
For the first time Toi-EDA was joined by local tourism businesses such as White Island Tours, Diveworks, Ohope Beach Holiday Park and Dive White, providing some welcome extra help and giving the companies valuable contact with potential customers.
“We'd like to expand on this concept next time,” said Toi-EDA marketing manager Nicola Burgess.
Several of the businesses gave away holiday prize packages, while Toi-EDA staff handed out lollipops and yellow balloons with smiley faces. Over 1500 people entered competitions to win weekends in Whakatane and Ohope and trips to White Island.
The 41st National Fieldays boasted more exhibitors (1000) than last year on the 98ha site and 117,000 people attended the event.
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