Co-owner of Black Barn Kim Thorp said about 17 different entities were fighting to promote Hawke's Bay before Hawke's Bay Tourism was formed.
A hospitality heavyweight says a Hawke’s Bay Regional Council proposal to cut funding to Hawke’s Bay Tourism would be a “disaster” that could set promotion of the region to visitors back 20 years.
Black Barn co-owner Kim Thorp has shared a written submission to the Regional Council with Hawke’s Bay Today. Brave Brewing co-owner Gemma Smith has also shared her written submission to the Regional Council.
Consultation documents for the Regional Council’s draft 2024-2027 Three-Year Plan outline a list of ‘tough choices’ they are proposing to reduce average rates increases, one of which is to phase out funding for Hawke’s Bay Tourism.
The preferred option from the two presented in the consultation document was to reduce the current annual funding of $1.52 million from the Regional Council in stages over the next two years and stop funding altogether from 2026-27 onwards.
A second option in the plan would see Hawke’s Bay Tourism maintain $1.52 million in funding for 2024-25 and have that reduced to $441,000 for 2025-26, giving the organisation more time to secure funding from other sources.
Hawke’s Bay Tourism chairman George Hickton said earlier the loss of funding would lead to job and business losses and turn the province into a “regional backwater”.
Thorp stated in his submission that Hawke’s Bay attractions would not exist without visitors from out of the region and that Hawke’s Bay Tourism was important to the region’s economic development and the number of visitors received.
“The future economic prosperity of our region will not rely just on the fertility of our soils. It increasingly relies on Hawke’s Bay being perceived as a positive place to invest, to establish a business and ideally, to move to – perhaps with family,” Thorp wrote.
“I know for a fact there are a number of small much loved ‘icons’ of our visitor experience that are on their knees right now and unlikely to survive the coming winter.
“The cyclone didn’t just wipe out infrastructure and cropping it also wiped out our visitor base and it only started to come limping back this summer,” he said.
Thorp wrote that the void left behind if Hawke’s Bay Tourism were to collapse could not be filled by private businesses primarily due to a lack of cohesion, contacts and focus.
Speaking with Hawke’s Bay Today, Thorp said he was around before Hawke’s Bay Tourism was formed about 20 years ago and saw firsthand how ineffectual tourism promotion for the region used to be.
“What happened back then was there was huge exasperation around how Hawke’s Bay was being promoted because, I don’t think this is an exaggeration, there was something like 17 different entities, both council-funded and privately-funded trying to promote Hawke’s Bay. There was no cohesive link,” Thorp said.
He said he and others in the industry realised there needed to be the support of local councils behind efforts to promote tourism in the region and a cohesive, focused effort, so they had put their support behind the entity that became Hawke’s Bay Tourism.
“If there was no such thing as Hawke’s Bay Tourism funding then I think, and a lot of others think as well, that it would be a complete disaster to go back to the way it was 20 years ago,” he said.
“Hawke’s Bay Tourism is a very respected regional tourism authority, it has got great links to Tourism New Zealand.”
Brave Brewing’s Gemma Smith wrote in her submission that she had witnessed firsthand tourism’s significant positive impact on the local economy, job market, and overall wellbeing in Hawke’s Bay.
“Tourism is not merely a luxury but a vital pillar of our community’s economic stability. The funds allocated to promoting tourism play a crucial role in attracting visitors, sustaining local businesses, and creating employment opportunities,” Smith wrote.
She said the proposal created a risk of job losses and could jeopardise the livelihoods of “countless” individuals and families who rely on tourism-related businesses for their income, particularly small business owners.
“[Hawke’s Bay Tourism’s] expertise in promoting and championing what we have to offer has directly contributed to us being able to successfully navigate several very difficult years across the pandemic, and post-cyclone landscapes.”
Smith told Hawke’s Bay Today that she encouraged the general public to submit too.
“It does directly affect them too because, like I said, getting tourists through the region boosts the economy but it also enables businesses to do what they do in terms of providing spaces for people to come and enjoy themselves and connect,” Smith said.
“We saw even post-cyclone how important hospitality spaces were in terms of allowing people to connect and debrief and just be together.”
She hopes others in the hospitality industry will make submissions and she understands Hawke’s Bay Tourism has organised a meeting with people in the local tourism space.
Consultation on Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s Three-Year Plan opened on Monday, April 15 and will close at 8pm on Wednesday, May 15.
Public hearings will take place from May 29 to 30, deliberations will be on June 17 and the final version of the Three Year Plan 2024-27 will be adopted on June 26.
James Pocock joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features, with a focus on environment, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz