New Zealand’s tourism industry is hot news this week at TRENZ 2013 - Tourism Rendezvous New Zealand - in Auckland.

An illusion gallery, zipline tours high above the forest canopy, and Christchurch hotels are some of the new and innovative New Zealand tourism products that will be on show to the world’s travel and tourism buyers.

And for those who can’t make it to Auckland, Canadian tourism bloggers Ruth Atherley and Paul Holman are blogging to the rest of the world about what’s new and exciting in New Zealand.

Trenzblog.com is already live as Atherley and Holman have travelled through several New Zealand regions - Auckland, Wellington, Martinborough, Marlborough, Christchurch, Kaikoura - on their way to TRENZ.

TRENZblog will be updated several times a day from the trade show with product news, and interviews with travel professionals, and tourism leaders. There will also be regular Twitter updates.

Tourism and hospitality
TRENZ - organised by New Zealand’s Tourism Industry Association (TIA) - is the $23.4 billion New Zealand tourism and hospitality industry’s most important international showcase.

This year around 250 New Zealand tourism operators will be doing business with 290 international buyers.

These “influential” buyers expected to send “about 700,000 visitors to New Zealand over the coming year - over half our holiday arrivals,” according to TIA chief executive Martin Snedden.

“Tourism is a hugely competitive international business so it’s vital we show them fresh and exciting new products and visitor experiences.”

New tourism product
At TRENZ 2013, buyers will discover 52 new tourism products, including 16 tourism operators who are exhibiting for the first time.
They include first-time TRENZ exhibitor Rotorua Canopy Tours, in business for less than a year and hoping to make a positive impression on the international buyers.
“We take visitors deep into pristine native bush where they experience 1.2km of ziplines, flying foxes, treetop swing bridges and treetop platforms. It’s a powerful combination of adventure and conservation, something we hope will firmly establish us on the leading edge of eco-tourism in New Zealand,” says director James Fitzgerald.

“Our goal for TRENZ is to ensure the market has a good understanding of what we do - that we are far more than a zipline tour. We also want to show that Rotorua is stepping up with a number of new innovative businesses that are redefining what this destination offers.”

Accor Hotels rapidly developing New Zealand portfolio includes several new products including a new Sofitel for Wellington, and two new Christchurch hotels - the Novotel, scheduled to open in September 2013, and the Ibis which opened in September 2012.

Wanaka’s Puzzling World will be promoting its biggest project in over a decade - a NZ$2.5 million extension that includes a gallery of illusionary sculptures. The Sculptillusion Gallery showcases over 20 large sculptures, artworks and displays within a structure that has “illusionary aspects - such as a wave ceiling and hanging waterfalls” incorporated into the design, says Puzzling World marketing manager Duncan Spear.