Norsewood shows regions the road ahead in tourism
We lit out of Napier early on Tuesday, on the final leg of our Kombipowered Christmas holiday. It was meant to be a scorcher in Hawke’s Bay.
When you’re driving 45-year-old air-cooled vans, it’s best to plan for issues rather than have them happen when the bitumen is melting and the kids imploding.
Two hours later, the fuel gauge was entering the red as we approached the turnoff to Norsewood. We figured it was a sign, and turned off to the town built by Scandinavian migrants in the 1870s.
My daughter informed us with glee that we were on Thor St and about to turn into Odin. While we didn’t find Chris Hemsworth or a hammer, we did find the Norsewood Cafe complete with a fine selection of edibles at 20thcentury prices and great coffee. Not what I was expecting.
After a good feed we started looking for the petrol station, when the local postie stopped at our table to chat. She made it abundantly clear that we really couldn’t leave without checking out the grocery shop with its olde worlde collection of candies.
She’d hardly finished speaking before my daughter sped across the street to check it out. As well as supplying milk bottles and blackballs, the friendly grocer told us that across the road we could grab a map for a 10-minute walking tour that included a historic graveyard.
He had my partner at the word graveyard so we grabbed our dog and found fascinating glimpses of life in pioneering Aotearoa.
As we were climbing back in the Kombis outside the cafe we found a father and son admiring the vans, and they told us we really needed a photo of them by the Wop Wops Wetland Park with the ‘‘world famous’’ eels.
Three minutes later we pulled up at the Wop Wops and met the eels, easy-going black serpents with a girth the size of a half-flagon jar.
A local said we were welcome to use the toilets at the adjoining Norsewear shop, where along with the iconic socks we were offered free tea and coffee, and free entry to the art gallery.
I could go on, but I’m sure you get the picture. Whether by planning, serendipity or just the altruistic outlook of this little piece of Scandinavia, we experienced about the most vertically integrated piece of destination management I’ve come across.
A five-minute petrol and comfort stop became a 90-minute journey into New Zealand Heartland. And a $50 fill-up became an exercise in extracting closer to $150 of value.
And the secret to the experience was the network effect of the community. Apart from being justifiably proud of their village I’d guess that every person there knew how easy it was for a tourist whizzing past at 100kmh to not take the exit from State Highway 2.
I’d also guess that they knew that each dollar spent in the community trickles down to their partners, children, neighbours and friends.
Which, on top of their natural friendliness, provides a strong motivator to tell visitors the story of their town and the experiences it’s got to offer. I think it comes down to attitude.
Having visited a heap of regional towns over the holidays, I think quite a few of them could take a leaf out of the Norsewood attitudinal book. But, as the tourism industry gets the biggest makeover it’s had in years, I also hope that the regions don’t just get hungry for more of the tourism dollars. I hope they get aligned and organised.
Between the Tourism Infrastructure Fund, the Provincial Growth Fund, the Responsible Camping Group and the Tiaki Care initiative, there’s been more than $100 million invested into growing sustainable tourism in the regions. Initiatives that have got a strong tailwind thanks of the support of ministers such as Kelvin Davis and Shane Jones.
Meanwhile, the draft New Zealand Aotearoa Strategy is out for consultation. Two key outcomes of the strategy are ensuring regional communities benefit from tourism, and delivering exceptional visitor experiences.
The draft draws on the five A’s that a location needs to be a successful destination: awareness, access, amenities, attractions and the positive attitude of the host community. It’s the last of these that shone in Norsewood.
Once the strategy has been finalised a key determinant of successful execution will be the extent to which regional towns can understand that everyone has a part to play in delivering exceptional tourism experiences.
And if my experience this week in Hawke’s Bay is anything to go by, they could do a lot worse than reach out to Norsewood for some advice about delivery.
Mike ‘‘MOD’’ O’Donnell is a professional director, writer and adviser. His Twitter handle is @modsta and his daughter has made him promise to head back to Norsewood for the Norway festival in May. While this column is MOD’s personal opinion, for full disclosure it’s noted that he is a director of Tourism New Zealand.
They knew that each dollar spent in the community trickles down to their partners, children, neighbours and friends.