Annie Dundas: Tourism touches the whole community

Hawke's Bay Tourism general manager Annie Dundas.

Tourism by its very nature is a positive industry: it's about giving people a good time, sharing experiences and making memories for people. It's also about enriching the lives of our entire community.

But it's an industry made up of a lot of small players - one to two person businesses creating memorable experiences for visitors on their wine or cycle tour or in their B&B or cafe. More than 80 per cent of tourism businesses in New Zealand consist of one to two employees and it's partly for this reason why regional tourism organisations exist.

Regional tourism marketing helps all those players, from the small to the large. When we market the region overseas - we talk New Zealand first (essential to get them here in the first instance), we talk Hawke's Bay next, then we get into cities and tourism experiences. If you aren't getting people to Hawke's Bay, we have no chance of getting them into our cities, districts and businesses.

I have recently been in Central Hawke's Bay talking to a group of small tourism operators. They run historic homesteads, marae experiences, cable ski parks, theatres and wineries.
Central Hawke's Bay District Council and the CHB Promotions Board decided to fund a tourism co-ordinator and have them work both in CHB and at Hawke's Bay Tourism's offices.

This partnership has been in place for approximately three years, giving CHB a voice within the tourism landscape in Hawke's Bay. With this co-ordinated effort, positivity and passion, visitor spend in CHB has increased from approximately $28m a year in 2015 to more than $33m a year in the year to September 2017.

That's not luck; that's a group of people working together for their community to share their story. Five million dollars of that spend came from international visitors spending money in Central Hawke's Bay.

None of these businesses could market on their own and achieve those results. Tourism marketing is a collective effort and, as such, a regional funding model is considered the most efficient means for speaking with a strong singular voice for Hawke's Bay. We are too small not to talk with one cohesive voice.

The role of territorial local authorities (TLAs) in relation to tourism is principally to manage what's on the ground - build infrastructure and visitor experiences for both locals and visitors. They also provide essential services such as i-SITES, toilets, and areas for freedom campers.

TLAs work hand-in-hand with regional tourism organisations – one example of this is the development of the newly launched regional visitor website www.hawkesbaynz.com. This was a significant, collaborative effort and replaces a number of other websites that have been operating to promote parts of Hawke's Bay.

Destinations need to re-invest and develop new large-scale visitor experiences in order to meet the needs and demands of the visitor. Projects of scale are most often driven by councils to start with, and this leads to private investment, job creation and ultimately a visitor experience that meets the needs of the visitor, and importantly the local community as well.

Examples of this include the work by all councils to build and grow the Hawke's Bay cycle trails, Napier City Council's upgrades to Marine Parade, the proposed hotel for Napier and the significant expansion plans for the National Aquarium of New Zealand, as well as the work by Hastings District Council on Te Mata Park and the Regional Sports Park.

Future projects will include investment by Wairoa District Council to support Rocket Lab. All of these projects will rely on local businesses to come to fruition – from builders to electricians to those who supply linen and cleaning services for a new hotel.

All will also need regional marketing support and promotion prior to opening - Te Papa was marketed three years in advance of opening in a strong partnership with the Wellington regional tourism organisation.

So if you are wondering about the value of tourism to Hawke's Bay - it is an industry that touches the entire community and supports one of the key goals of Matariki Regional Economic Development Strategy: jobs.

Tourism growth in Hawke's Bay will mean more jobs and greater economic prosperity for all of us.

Annie Dundas is the general manager of Hawke's Bay Tourism. Views expressed here are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz