Once in a decade opportunity to ‘get tourism right’

A Catlins tour in the peak season has shown that while tourists are getting a lot out of the district, the district is not getting a lot out of the tourists, Clutha mayor Bryan Cadogan says.

The Clutha District Council launched its Our Place Catlins community plan last week on a road trip that took in top tourist spots Pounawea, Nugget Point and Kaka Point.

It would resume today for the annual Kaka Point beach market, where people were invited to give their feedback on various proposals.

On the tour, Cadogan said it had struck him that while the district seemed busy, visitors were seeing these places ‘‘for free’’.

‘‘In the few hours we were up there at the [Nugget Point] carpark, throngs of vans came in, even in the pouring rain.’’

He observed people getting out of their vehicles, using the toilets and coming out with ‘‘wodges of tissue’’, which reinforced to him that ‘‘we are giving away the Catlins for free’’.

‘‘Not one person paid any money. The question we have to be asking ourselves is, by fulfilling their needs, are they fulfilling ours?’’

A walking or cycling trail that would link Nugget Point to Papatowai, more signage or digital resources and better ways to manage people travelling to tourist hotspots, were among the ideas floated on the community plan, to cater for tourists.

However, while the general public indicated these things were ‘‘nice to haves’’, they so far seemed more concerned about the council getting the ‘‘need to haves’’ right, such as dust, roading, water and sewage, Cadogan said.

‘‘I didn’t know what to expect but locals are very focused on the basics . . . yes, they’d like a track and so on, but this is a once in a decade chance to get it all right.’’

The north Catlins spots mentioned were identified in the 10-yearly community plan as the places to be in the next 10 to 20 years, with the population predicted to increase significantly as tourism increased.

The Southland end of the Catlins’ successful boost with the development of Curio Bay and the opening of the Curioscape Visitor Centre last year had made the council mindful that it had to lift its game at the Otago end, Cadogan said.

‘‘To a tourist there’s no line in the map between north and south (Catlins). It’s just a road to drive. So we need to work as team, to take advice, and we need to lift our game.’’

The district also needed to take advantage of opportunities to make tourism dollars, he said.

Southland deputy mayor and South Catlins Charitable Trust chairman Paul Duffy agreed: ‘‘The Catlins has now become a destination attraction and needs to be dealt with as a whole.’’

‘‘I think we need to refer to our combined strategy that was revised about four years ago and work cohesively on how to maximise potential benefits and identify what needs to be done.’’

National Party MP for Invercargill Sarah Dowie worked on the Curio Bay site in her years employed by the Department of Conservation and was familiar with the north Catlins.

Providing opportunities for education and interpretation to visitors and meaningful engagement from those that had a connection with the area were key elements, she said.

‘‘There must be buy-in from stakeholders as to a common set of values and goals for the management of growth to the area.

‘‘It needs to start with defining what is special about ‘place’ and how that should be protected for its longevity.’’

Lawrence-based New Zealand First MP Mark Patterson said he believed the Catlins was about to explode as a tourist destination.

‘‘Queenstown, Wanaka and Milford Sound are groaning under the weight of tourists and my belief is this will accelerate the number of astute tourists looking for an alternative, equally spectacular, southern tourism experience. Preparation for this needs to be well under way.’’