Selling Auckland

The City of Sails is about to sell its charms to overseas tourists. Who comes here, what do they know about our place ? and what do they think of it? Sharu Delilkan and Candice Reed report
THERE'S 1.6 million of them and ? fair dinkum, cobber ? almost a third are our Aussie cousins. They're young: a quarter are aged 25-34. They're here for six nights, they spend $175 a day ? and another $140 on room and board. They leave us $3 billion better off each year and keep 54,000 Aucklanders in jobs.
Yes, they're our international tourists. And here's the big news. Forget your billboards of pure, sparkling streams, photos of virgin bush scenes in the glossy overseas magazines, TV ads of skiing and whale-watching. One third of those people go no further than Auckland.
That's why Tourism Auckland is about to launch a campaign to sell the delights of the City of Sails to overseas backpackers, families, businesspeople, and pensioners.
It's a big step. Graeme Osborne, CEO of Tourism Auckland, says we've never had the money before. And yes, we can blame Wellington.
The Prime Minister's Office recommended in 2001 that Tourism Auckland receive $9.6 million to give it a competitive edge. In reality Auckland receives $2.1 million ? less than half the capital's $4.6 million budget.
That money comes from Auckland City ($1.7 million), Manukau City ($300,000) and North Shore City ($100,000).
Osborne is diplomatic. "New Zealand is a very small country and we cannot afford to be subdivided into too many regional brands ? it just complicates things for visitors. First and foremost, the challenge is to recognise New Zealand for the beautiful country that it is and, within that make sure that we get our fair share in terms of time and money spent in Auckland.
"There's no doubt that Tourism NZ predominantly promotes the South Island as it's a popular attraction. In spite of that, I think Auckland does really well,"says Mr Osborne.
The Ministry of Tourism's records show international travellers stay in Auckland for just over six nights. "This figure is the highest of any city in New Zealand," he says. "With greater investment and a more unified effort Auckland's tourism would perform a lot better."
The Auckland-centric campaign is scheduled for next month. There'll also be a month-long campaign, called "What's On", specifically targeting the Aussie tourists who make up nearly 30 per cent of our international visitors.
It will promote the region as a convenient short trip and demonstrate that Auckland is "so much more than just another city".
The Regional Visitor Monitor indicates that most visitors are between 25 and 34 years (26 per cent) while those who're 65 and over make up 6 per cent. The campaign will also target older travellers, whom Mr Osborne describes as "high-yield visitors".
So far, so good. But what do visitors know about the city before they get here, and do they think it's more than just another city?
At the tourist spots, visitors from several countries had mixed perceptions of what to expect. Some were impressed with our improving infrastructure; others expected the city to be bigger.
Andres Palma, who has been travelling New Zealand for a year, didn't know what to expect when he arrived in Auckland, but was impressed by its cosmopolitan nature.
Its cultural diversity makes it a unique destination. Chilean Andres, 26, says: "I think it's a good city, a big city. It's different to other New Zealand cities. You have one million people in one big city. It is busy, but not too busy and is a little more classy."
Jesper Pedersen felt quite the opposite. "All I knew before I came was that Auckland is New Zealand's biggest city," the Dane told us.
"It was disappointing that there was not much to see when I got here, besides the museum."
Although some tourists hadn't researched Auckland before arriving, others quoted websites like those of Discover New Zealand and New Zealand Tourism as well as the Lonely Planet and Eyewitness guides.
Of the tourists we spoke to, many were passing through Auckland to start or end their trip to Aotearoa. As Valerie Benson, of Canada, put it: "We spent most of our time in the South Island and have only come back to Auckland because it's the last destination before we go home."
Perhaps the ultimate spokeswoman for Tourism Auckland's campaign would be Tracey Kennedy. After her second visit, the 39-year-old American came here to live.
"I love New Zealand. I think it's a great place to spend some years.
"I love Auckland City. I think it's great that it has a little bit of everything. You can come into the city for city life, or head to the suburbs for a quieter life and it's all so close."
Yes, we could do more in the way of tourist attractions. "It's kind of nice to get away from Disneyland, but maybe there needs to be a theme park or something of the sort geared towards New Zealand culture. Unless you go to the museum there is nothing that showcases the cultural history and Maori history of New Zealand."
Before coming to Auckland she visited online. "I pretty much googled things and went from there."
She found the sites pretty good, especially Tourism NZ's site, but notes that Auckland doesn't really get a look in. "A lot of tourism promotion for New Zealand focuses on the South Island, it doesn't focus so much on Auckland City. Could be something to look at."
What they say
LYNNE BANTON, 49 GUERNSEY, CHANNEL ISLANDS I'm not a city person. I like it for a few days, but that's enough for me. My husband and I like going to Waiheke Island, Devonport and seeing the arty-crafty things and the wineries. Auckland has a lot of that type of thing on offer, but also other attractions like the Sky Tower are good too.
JESPER PEDERSEN, 21 DENMARK It's like any normal big city, not much to see except for the museums. I rate Auckland 4 on the scale of 1 to 10. I wouldn't recommend it to my friends as there's not much to see, unlike Sydney.
VALERIE BENSON, 31 QUEBEC CITY, CANADA Our top priorities will be Rangitoto, the Sky Tower and the wharf. We found the waterfront a lot smaller than expected. As a city it's rather small. There is no old part of the city which is disappointing. It seems geared up for shopping, which we're not interested in. Generally we've found there's not much to do. We preferred the nature aspect of Christchurch. We have a lot of friends who'd like it: I'm sure they'd love to visit.
TRACEY KENNEDY, 39 USA I think Auckland is a great place to get away from the American scene.
It's a step back in time, really. I was here two and half years ago, but it's funny how things don't change very much. I would hate to come back here and see it Americanised.
STEFANIE DELMONTE, 38 ITALY I wanted to come to Auckland because I'd seen it during the America's Cup. All I knew about Auckland is that there's sailing here. I really like Auckland ? I think it's a great place. I'd definitely recommend it to my friends.
What they do
Auckland's Top 10 attractions (in no particular order) 1 City tours 2 Kelly Tarlton's 3 Sky Tower 4 Dolphin and whale safari 5 Fullers cruises 6 Tourism Auckland harbour cruise & city sights tour 7 Bush and beach 8 Bungy jumping 9 360 Discovery 10 Wine trail tours Source: Tourism Auckland
What they spend
year ending December 2005 Spending($m) Kiwis employed Rodney 129 2180 North Shore 250 4620 Waitakere 149 2900 Auckland City 1733 30,480 Manukau 922 11,640 Papakura 49 970 Franklin 44 1030 Auckland Region 3277 53,820 Source: Tourism Auckland
Where they're from
Auckland's visitors year to January 2007 1 Australia 499,781 29.9% 2 UK 221,445 13.2% 3 US 181,635 10.9% 4 China 95,242 5.7% 5 Japan 86,055 5.1% 6 Korea 81,473 4.9% 7 Germany 41,730 2.5% 8 Canada 37,986 2.3% 9 Netherlands 22,264 1.3% 10 Taiwan 21,764 1.3% All Auckland visitors 1,671,349 All NZ visitors 2,406,196 Source: Statistics NZ