New push to attract visitors

Mayor Annette Main aims to promote Wanganui's points of difference. Photo/Bevan Conley

Wanganui council will target potential visitors to the city with a niche marketing campaign.

Following the release of figures that show a sorry slump in tourist numbers, Mayor Annette Main said this week that a new marketing strategy, put in place by Visit Whanganui, should reverse the decline.

"There's so much about our place to like, we just need to communicate and promote it better," she said, admitting the city needed to be more clever about its marketing strategy.

"To promote our point of difference we are looking at well-executed niche marketing and special interests."

Ms Main said this would involve targeting visitors through social media such as Facebook.

"We just need to get our advertising on the websites that these people are looking at."

Wanganui hotels and motels recorded the second lowest number of guest night stays in the country for the 10 months to October, according to Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment figures released last month.

Those statistics prompted lobby group Destination Whanganui Providers, which represents the city's accommodation businesses, to call for a stronger and better-funded marketing plan.

However, Ms Main said the days of expensive mass advertising were gone.

"This strategy will build on previous marketing and the promotion the visitor industry undertakes itself. It is about saying to people 'we know you'."

She said the visitor numbers did not include guests staying in motorhomes, or with friends and family members.

"The visitor industry is not just the accommodation side - you need to look at the whole picture in terms of tourism."

There had been a decrease in visitor numbers across the country, she said.

"What we have been doing is looking at why people want to come to Wanganui."

The average length of stay in Wanganui was 1.67 days, the ministry said.

Ms Main said the Wanganui cycleway had increased visitor numbers during the past year, adding that her favourite place to visit was the river, as it helped her to unwind after a stressful day.