Tourism New Zealand has captured the attention of the influential youth market with its latest Stories Beat Stuff campaign, receiving over 400 video entries and a further 6,500 registrations to the campaign site to win a New Zealand experience of a lifetime.

Two lucky guys have successfully traded their stuff for a story of a lifetime with Tourism New Zealand selecting the first two Stories Beat Stuff winners last week.

Donat Ertsey of Budapest traded a week in his European homestead with him as a private tour guide, while Christian Murphy from the United Kingdom traded all his musical instruments and equipment to get here.

Tourism New Zealand's General Manager of Marketing Communications, Justin Watson, says the campaign is successfully reaching the influential youth audience which accounts for almost 25 per cent of annual arrivals to New Zealand.

"A strategic focus of all our marketing activity is the prioritisation of key markets and sectors for growth.
"We are targeting the youth market because of the substantial growth opportunities they present. They have the potential to stay longer, spend more and are more likely to return to New Zealand later in life."

The interactive nature of the campaign and the ongoing focus on the sector for the past 12 months is starting to show results.

Justin says, "Youth arrivals are up 2 per cent year-end October, and key operators in the youth space are reporting good sales over recent months.

"Generating over 122,000 unique visits to the Stories Beat Stuff campaign page on newzealand.com, and a further 250,000 views on YouTube, the campaign is proving to resonate with the sector and we will keep monitoring success rates as the campaign continues into 2012."

To provide the experiences, Tourism New Zealand partnered with a number of New Zealand operators and both winners will fly to New Zealand with Air New Zealand.

To view the reactions of the winners and to follow them during their time in New Zealand visit the Stories Beat Stuff campaign page.