The simple formula of a friendly greeting and the offer of help and information for Bay of Islands cruise ship visitors in The Ambassadors Scheme has been so successful volunteer ambassadors haven't been able to keep up with growing demand.
And with cruise arrivals about to increase in size and numbers, the business group that organised the scheme, Business Paihia, has turned it into a commercial operation, contracting out the business to a new company formed to do the work. The aim is to maintain the consistency and effectiveness of The Ambassadors in the face of an increased workload.
Scheduled cruise arrivals for the October 2011-April 2012 season are a record 52, compared to 36 last year, and the warmth of the welcome by the Ambassadors is believed to have been a significant factor in the Bay's growing attention from cruise ship companies.
Thousands more tourists are coming into the Bay by sea this season as cruise prices pitched lower than the cost of charter bus tours hoover up the big Australian trade: about 80,000 people are expected on the 52 ships.
Over the past few months the Paihia business community has pulled together to raise $32,000 to put The Ambassadors Scheme on a commercial footing. More is needed.
Business Paihia representatives Sarah Greenor, chair, and Charles Parker of Fullers Bay of Islands, have asked the Northland Regional Council to help make up a $7000 plus GST shortfall. The NRC will make a decision early in the New Year. "It's something we need to adapt to and I think we should see it as an opportunity," says Sarah Greenor. Growth in the cruise trade had been "pretty big and rapid".
"Worldwide economic crises mean people are looking for passenger options that are all-inclusive packages. Once in the ports they may go for short tours or visit the towns. We believe those few hours are a really important time for people to showcase themselves, to make sure the people who choose to return to New Zealand want to come north.
"We must make the most of this changing market."
The Ambassadors started three years ago, with the current season the fourth. The Ambassadors greeting passengers disembarking from tenders at Waitangi or Russell were trained to answer questions about anything from history and retail opportunities, to where to change money, get a good coffee or find the local brand of fish and chips.
"Small stuff but it seems to make a massive impact. My feedback is that the Bay is going up and up as a favoured destination. And as your rating goes up the cruise companies get more and more interested."
She said she has been told that there may be slightly fewer cruise ships coming in during the 2012-2013 season but they will be bigger. "At the moment the biggest carry about 2500; the new ships will bring 3000-3500. Ships' tenders can only carry about 100 - meaning that it could take hours to get everyone ashore."
This could mean developing ways of getting these people quickly to their chosen destinations once ashore - shops, heritage sites or short bus tours - which was where Ambassadors could play an even bigger role.
The good news was that research was showing that 60-80 per cent of cruise ship passengers would return, travelling a different way, she said.
Charles Parker of Fullers Bay of Islands, which runs land and sea tours, said New Zealand was perceived as very "cruise-friendly, safe and with a lot of good products" but the reality was that the economic benefits were far less than with coach tourism.
"Cruise tourists spend much less time here. There are five to six shore visits lasting six to eight hours, whereas on a ten-day coach holiday you will spend ten nights on New Zealand soil, consume ten New Zealand lunches and ten dinners, and be involved in six to ten activities.
But the cruise trade is one of those structural shifts in the market we just have to learn to live with and we have to remember that after the brief intense experiences on shore offered by a cruise passengers are very likely to return looking for a more in-depth experience."
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