Funding lift to target ‘Baycation’ campaign
HB tourism to use $700,000 from Govt to attract visitors from lower North Island
AGovernment boost of $700,000 to the Hawke’s Bay’s tourism sector will be used to attract in-country visitors looking for a “Baycation”. New Zealand’s 31 Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) will receive a cut of more than $20 million to support the industry’s recovery in the short and long-term after Covid19.
The money, which forms part of the Government’s Strategic Tourism Assets Protection Plan, was announced by Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis on Tuesday.
Hawke’s Bay Tourism received the joint second most, topped by Auckland, Queenstown, Rotorua, Wellington and Christchurch, who received $1m each.
Hamish Saxton, Hawke’s Bay Tourism chief executive, said the funding will help extend the association’s Baycation campaign to entice visitors from Wellington and the lower North Island.
“Without the funding, we would simply not be in the position to do that, and in this current, highly competitive market, we need to achieve more than our fair share of visitors,” he said.
“Feedback from our membership surveys clearly tells us that what our members need right now, to recover, is visitors.
“And, if these businesses have any chance of making up for the 50 days or so where they could not operate, these visitors need to do more, stay longer and come back.”
Davis said all 31 RTOs help contribute to their regional economies and play an important role in supporting the tourism system nationwide.
“The funding will allow RTOs to support their communities and tourism operators, stimulate regional demand, leverage Tourism New Zealand’s national marketing visitor interest.
“We need to maintain and build on the momentum from our earlier visitor marketing campaign,” he said.
“We sincerely thank the Minister and Government for recognising the critical need and also that at this time, local government and ratepayers cannot fund the investment required to reignite domestic tourism on their own.”
The funding boost, which comes on the condition that local government retains its current investment in RTOs, recognises the important work of RTOs and their value to the economies they serve.