Koha schemes aim to boost tourism on Stewart Island
Stewart Island tourism operators have developed an innovative approach to attract visitors to the island.
Stewart Island Adventures and Beak and Feathers are allowing customers to pay what they like for their trips in September through a koha scheme.
Stewart Island Adventures coowner and operator Ollie Peckham said for the month, people could book a diving tour and at the end of the trip put as much as they wanted into a jar.
The tour would normally cost $160 for half a day.
Peckham and his partner, Johnny Sharplin, hoped the scheme would attract more visitors to the island and help their business, which had only been open a year, get off the ground again.
So far, the company had more bookings in September than it did in the previous year.
Stewart Island kiwi spotting operator Beaks and Feathers would also be joining the scheme.
Owner-operator Ange Karaitiana said Peckham had helped with her kiwi tours and from hearing his idea, decided to do a similar ‘‘Kiwi for Koha’’ scheme. Customers would be able to pay as much they wanted for the tour that normally cost $100.
It was in the best interest of
Stewart Island operators to help each other attract more visitors to the island when times were tough, she said.
Karaitiana hoped New Zealanders who had thought about visiting Stewart Island would see now was their chance to do so.
Meanwhile, Great South is in the process of reviewing its tourism strategy.
The Murikihu Destination Strategy released last November had a goal of attracting $1 billion in tourism spend by 2025.
Great South tourism and general manager Bobbi Brown said financial success might not be a priority in the reviewed strategy.
‘‘Now our success may not be all financial, it could be supporting more businesses to get back on their feet.’’
The priority of tourism projects listed for development had also changed, Brown said.
There would still be a strong focus on tourism on the Bluff Tourism Master Plan, the Dark Sky Sanctuary in Stewart Island, and there would be a focus on projects that were linked to walking and cycling, Brown said.
Agri-tourism would also be a focus, and farmers were still keen to diversify their business no matter what happened with Covid-19, she said.
While Invercargill had been important in the original strategy, it was now critical.
The original strategy focused on using Invercargill as an alternative route to access Milford Sound and Fiordland instead of Queenstown, and it would now be promoted as the gateway to Southland, she said.