WellingtonNZ.com,
New Zealand 

International Marketing Coordinator Ania Peszynski promoting Wellington Open Day on Lambton Quay.

Poor weather didn’t stop Wellingtonians getting to know the city’s visitor attractions better on Sunday, with Wellington Open Day participants reporting the event to be a storming success.

Positively Wellington Tourism Chief Executive David Perks says thousands of locals braved winter rains to visit close to 30 attractions taking part in the gold coin entry day on Sunday June 26.

“On a stunning sunny day Wellington Zoo for example would see about 1000 visitors through the gates. The combination of the gold coin entry and their hosting of Happy Feet – the emperor penguin found more than 3000km from its Antarctic home on the Kapiti Coast - saw close to four times that many people through.”

ZEALANDIA: The Karori Sanctuary Experience reported queues at the doors before the 10am opening and Carter Observatory had a line out the door throughout the day.

“Carter Observatory saw their second biggest day ever – with some 1200 stargazers through. That visitation comes second only to their opening day.”

ZEALANDIA proved incredibly popular, welcoming 2800 guests. Close to 2000 people went through the Cable Car Museum while some 230 people took the opportunity to visit behind the scenes at Mojo Coffee Central.

The bad weather had actually been a good thing, Mr Perks said.

“The attractions were run off their feet as it was. Plus this whole exercise was about educating locals about what’s on offer and this gave people the opportunity to see was how important all-weather attractions such as Carter and ZEALANDIA – which are both still fairly new - are to Wellington.”

Wellington Open Day was held to engage locals with the visitor industry ahead of Rugby World Cup 2011, which will see eight matches and 11 teams hosted in the city throughout the Tournament.

“But while RWC 2011 was a trigger, this is about longer-term benefit. Wellingtonians are our word-of-mouth marketing army and it’s really important we keep them across what our visitor sector has to offer.”