‘Extremely grateful’: $1.2 million to boost Hawke’s Bay’s cyclone-hit visitor economy

New funding for tourism includes money the Government earmarked to support Art Deco Trust events.

Hawke’s Bay Tourism says it’s “extremely grateful” for $1.2 million in funding post-Cyclone Gabrielle.

The windfall is part of a wider $10m package announced on Wednesday that targets nine recovery projects in Hawke’s Bay, Tairāwhiti and Northland.

The tourism-related funding is designated “to restore the local tourism industries in the three regions following the disruption caused by Cyclone Gabrielle” and includes money the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) had earmarked to support Art Deco Trust events. The fund is also provided on the condition that money from other sources will not be reduced as a result.

Labour’s Napier candidate Mark Hutchinson said he was rapt with the announcement. “The well-targeted Government funding reflects what business leaders in Hawke’s Bay have been asking me for,” he said.

A significant portion of the new tourism funds would be invested into marketing campaigns to attract visitors to Hawke’s Bay, with growth targeted from proven markets to the region, such as Wellington and Auckland, said Hawke’s Bay Tourism chief executive Hamish Saxton.

What’s more, the funds will assist in “repairing and countering persistent and incorrect perceptions” around Hawke’s Bay’s readiness for visitors, he said.

“We continue to come up against a perception that visitors should not visit Hawke’s Bay, despite the visitor economy being open and ready for travellers for months now. After three years of Covid-impacted travel, this increased boost to funding will be invaluable in attracting people from outside of the region to visit Hawke’s Bay, spend time and money, and help keep our tourism businesses and regional economy ticking over.”

Gabrielle has had a lasting impact on the region’s visitor economy, with the region’s market share of domestic visitors reduced by 11 per cent as a result of the cyclone, according to Tourism Electronic Card Transactions (TECT) figures.

The data, released by MBIE, showed a decrease in domestic visitor spend. For the 12 months to June, Hawke’s Bay’s share of New Zealand’s domestic spend was 3.2 per cent, down from 3.62 per cent in the 12 months to June 2022.

As the third-largest contributor to regional GDP - after processing/manufacturing and agriculture - and employer of one in 10 Hawke’s Bay locals, there is a critical need to reinvigorate the visitor economy, Saxton said.

“While this seems like we are talking about relatively small figures, domestic visitors contributed $374m to Hawke’s Bay in the 12 months to June 2023, and the missing share equates to another $49m that would’ve been injected into local businesses and operators.”

Hawke’s Bay funding projects:

• Hawke’s Bay Recovery Programme: $1.5m to the Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce to increase support to cyclone-impacted businesses.
• Hawke’s Bay Tourism Cyclone Recovery Programme: $1.2m to Hawke’s Bay Tourism for a programme that aims to increase the number of visitors from outside the region. A dedicated $200,000 of this will be set aside to support the Art Deco Trust.
• Accommodation for rebuild workforce: $1m to Tātau Tātau o Te Wairoa to develop accommodation for tradespeople working on the residential rebuild of Wairoa.
• River Reserve: $1.5m to Wairoa District Council to restore and improve the River Reserve area east of the lighthouse to Locke Street.
• Wairoa Airport Runway Extension: $1.2m to the Wairoa District Council to extend the operational distance of the Wairoa Airport Runway, improving access for air ambulance services to fly in equipment and supplies in times of emergency.