Jeanette Darwen: Tourism worth every dollar

Silky Oak Chocolate Company owner Jeanette Darwen says the proposed tourism funding cuts would be crippling. Photo / File

We are against the funding cut to Hawke's Bay Tourism for many following reasons.

In the 19 years that Silky Oak has been part of the tourism industry, we, the owners, have found in the past three years that Hawke's Bay Tourism has been able to attract more events than in any of the previous years.

This is mainly because of the funding provided by HBRC. The dedicated people at Hawke's Bay Tourism have been able to attract a vast array of events, such as The Big Easy, also assist in promoting Art Deco, which has grown exponentially.

Silky Oak and many other tourism/wineries/accommodation/cultural organisations have and still provide money via subscriptions to Hawke's Bay Tourism plus we all assist in other ways, by hosting visiting IBOs (inbound operators), media, and famils (familiarisation visits) at our own cost.

Plus providing all types of product to assist in showcasing Hawke's Bay, this is done by horticultural groups, and all types of food and wine producers.

When we go to TRENZ (Tourism Rendezvous New Zealand), or any other exhibition, including the food shows, we are selling Hawke's Bay, sometimes New Zealand first, depending on the people we are talking with.

Our own companies come last, as we have to get them interested in Hawke's Bay first.

When visitors are in Hawke's Bay, we not only "sell" our business to the customer, we sell the region. We ask where they are going to next, then suggest they stop at other places, even if it is a local dairy for an ice cream.

Whatever it is, it is because we try to entice them to stay longer, or come back to Hawke's Bay, and spend their money here rather than another area.

We often find that people on cruise ship visits come back to the region because they enjoy themselves so much, they enjoy how Hawke's Bay is sold to them by its people, whether it's the welcome they receive from the arrival or departure of the cruise ship (no other region does this in the way Hawke's Bay does) and it is why we rank so highly out of all the other port visits. This cannot be undertaken without funding from the HBRC.

The funding may seem as if it is just being spent on tourism, in fact it is benefiting the whole of Hawke's Bay, visitors spend in all manner of ways, whether it be accommodation, restaurants, supermarkets, dairies, fuel stops, retailers - all of this is assisting in the local economy.

Tourism employs thousands of people, our economy is reliant on tourism, 8 per cent of our regional GDP is from tourism, and as such our employment levels are increasing because of the tourists, (be they international or domestic) visiting and spending into our economy.

Without funding from HBRC, Hawke's Bay Tourism will be restricted in the ways or number of people that it can attract, the small amount, $150 million that HBRC fund turns into $600+ million, where else can you receive such a great return on investment. Without this money, Hawke's Bay Tourism staff would need to spend a great deal of their time raising money, taking them away from what is their core goal; promoting us to the rest of New Zealand, as well as the world. There is an old saying "If it's not broken why fix it".

We used to be the poor relation with regards to tourism in the regions, please do not allow this to happen again by cutting the amount of funding, it would be a huge blow to tourism in Hawke's Bay, and also to Hawke's Bay as a whole.

* Jeanette & Kevin Darwen are co-directors of the Silky Oak Chocolate Co Ltd