Visitors stretch tourism operators
Small tourism businesses are rising to the challenge of record visitor numbers, reports Amanda Cropp.
The tourism boom has encouraged former potato farmer Michael Oakley to grow his Canterbury Ballooning business, but it has been a steep learning curve.
The Darfield family company imported its first commercial balloon in 2011, just before the earthquakes decimated the region’s tourism industry. But the Oakleys persevered and as demand increased they expanded to three balloons.
Although there are plans for a fourth, Michael Oakley is carefully biding his time until he can afford the extra layer of management needed to meet strict safety requirements for a larger ballooning operation, not to mention the $100,000-plus cost for a new balloon.
Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) chief executive Chris Roberts says that’s a wise move, because small tourism operators can easily fall into the trap of ‘‘growth for growth’s sake,’’ responding to demand, and ending up no better off financially.
Last year we welcomed almost 3.5 million international visitors, an increase of 368,000, and the vast majority of tourism businesses catering for them are small to medium-sized concerns.
According to ServiceIQ Infometrics, about half the 27,600 tourism operators in 2015 were sole traders, and just over a third had fewer than 10 employees.
Roberts says the days of treating tourism as a hobby or part-time job are over and operators have had to become more professional.
‘‘It’s difficult to be an enthusiastic amateur … The expectations are always increasing in terms of the level of service and availability’’. Oakley can relate to that. Making himself understood when phoning Chinese clients to confirm 4am picks-ups for early morning flights, is proving very time consuming.
So he is considering learning basic Mandarin to better communicate with the Chinese, who now now make up more than a third of his customers.
Of the three ballooning companies that once flew Canterbury skies, Oakley’s is the only one left, and he freely admits farming kept them going during some tough times.
‘‘I got out of potatoes to concentrate on growing the balloon business, but I still have what’s left of the farm ticking over quietly to bring in some income’’.
Geoff Gabites, who set up and eventually sold cycle touring company Adventure South, says a secondary income is absolutely essential when developing a tourism venture.
He is into his fifth year running Twizel-based Cycle Journeys, hiring out bikes and running a shuttle service for riders on the 310km Alps 2 Ocean cycle trail from Aoraki Mt Cook to Oamaru
Starting out with 30 bikes, Gabites is now up to 240 and can see that rising to 450 over the next few years.
He bought an existing shuttle business and his eight vehicles carry paying passengers as well as luggage and bikes between Oamaru, Twizel and Lake Tekapo.
Limousine South owner Jeremy Crichton was thinking ahead when he invested in a new depot for his fleet which has grown from 10 to 18 vehicles over the past four years.
‘‘The council is quite rightly cracking down on businesses using public car parking for fleet vehicles, so we made the plunge to buy a section and build a depot to future-proof our operation.’’
Crichton has also moved from a diary-based booking system to using dedicated limousine software from the US.
He says the rising tourism numbers have helped small businesses like his make the leap to being a medium-sized operation, but it’s still tough coping with the extra yearround costs involved in employing office and support staff.
Retention is also a problem because Queenstown’s extraordinarily high housing costs often drive younger firsttime home buyers to cheaper areas such as Te Anau.
Tourism depends heavily on foreigners with working holiday visas to cope with the rise in visitor numbers.
Roberts says that’s a risk because the supply of seasonal overseas workers depends on government policy, which can change.
For the first time ever Stewart Barclay’s Adrift Tongariro guiding business had to cancel a trip during a particularly busy patch this summer because he simply did not have a guide available to take it.
With 120,000 people a year doing the hugely popular Tongariro Crossing, Barclay’s business is feeling the pressure and while he prefers employing Kiwi guides, he has hired suitably qualified foreigners.
Barclay, who once ran a successful video importing and distribution business in Auckland, began Adrift as a one man band because he wanted to work in the outdoors.
Aged 60, he now guides two to three days a week ‘‘and I fill the gaps when we’re short’’.
Working 18-hour days during peak season is not unusual and Barclay is making a determined effort to delegate more.
‘‘You have to philosophically change your management style when you get above a certain level.
‘‘It’s not easy because for 18 years I’ve been doing it myself and it’s very hard to let someone else do it.’’
‘The expectations are always increasing’. Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts