New hotel will be boon for wine tourism

By DITA DE BONI

New Zealand's first wine tourism conference concluded in Marlborough yesterday with corker news for delegates - an 80-room hotel is to be built in the centre of Blenheim.

Plans by ACCOR Asia-Pacific - owners of the Novotel and Ibis hotel groups - to add Marlborough to its 110-strong Australasian property chain is proof that wine tourism in the country's prime grape-growing regions is about to take off, say conference organisers.

Chris Knowles, owner of Blenheim's Hotel d'Urville, says the news is fantastic for the town and will help build up the experience those involved with wine tourism are aiming to provide throughout the country.

The three-star hotel's presence will "encourage people to stay longer and enjoy the other things this area offers - and that's what wine tourism is all about," he says.

"It's about a whole host of things that can be offered [alongside] wine to create a total experience."

It is not known how much of the country's $10 billion annual tourism earnings are spent at cellar doors and on wine-related attractions in regions such as the Hawkes Bay, Gisborne, Martinborough and Marlborough.

But strong Government representation at the conference - including Prime Minister Helen Clark, Tourism Minister Mark Burton and key figures from Tourism New Zealand - as well as official requests for input from the sector to a new national tourism strategy being developed by the Government, suggests its status is recognised.

Conference-goers also elected the first national working group aimed at further cooperation between officials and private sector wine and tourism interests.

Mr Burton told the conference he was encouraged that it had officially recognised the natural partnership between wine and tourism and said both industries would stand and fall on their international competitiveness and on international perceptions.

But while there was almost equal representation from wine and tourism interests, there was also some animosity between the two sectors that several speakers pointed out would need to be resolved before fully integrated regional packages would work.

One conference source said many tourism figures had questioned the benefits of getting involved with wine tourism, while some wineries shied away from serving tourists at cellar doors in favour of concentrating on export demand.