Appendix 2: Web Audit
Hibiscus and Bays Ecotourism Strategy development Phase One: Local tourism audit
New Zealand Tourism Research Institute Auckland University of Technology (AUT) www.nztri.org 2018 The brief Conduct research into the tourism opportunities within the local area that could support the promotion of Hibiscus and Bays as an ecotourism destination. Key deliverables: A local tourism audit: • Web audit : Audit of the Web presence of Hibiscus and Bays area focused on the quality and range of information to attract residents and visitors to the destination. Includes identification of any gaps in currently available visitor information. • On-site experience audit (mystery visits) of Gulf Harbour, Shakespear Park and Okura Bush Walkway.
A map and database of tourism assets, visitor sector operators and stakeholders, including relevant community groups.
Visitor Strategy Group (VSG) identify and establish a group of operators and local stakeholders who can be brought together to investigate whether there is sufficient interest to form a tourism group to guide and give input to the Strategy. The research area:
• Hibiscus Coast
Source: Auckland Council, Hibiscus and Bays Local Board area map Our approach
• A destination Web Audit considers the web presence of the Hibiscus and Bays area from a visitor’s perspective at an international, national, regional and local level. • The web audit highlights just how visible and interactive Hibiscus and Bays is to visitors and was completed between December 2017 and February 2018. • In order to understand ‘what’s on the web’ about Hibiscus and Bays, the audit included a variety of channels including portals, websites, review sites, blogs, and social media. The audit focuses on the availability of information online about the businesses, community, and attractions associated with the visitor experience. The audit also considered the nature of linkages between existing sites, and the degree to which the web presence of each location is supporting intra and inter urban/regional connections • A team of 5 auditors (‘Mystery Visitors’) conducted the on-site experience audit and consisted of a youth visitor from Vietnam, as well as two Auckland residents and 2 NZTRI project leaders. This audit was completed in March 2018. Web Audit: What we looked for . Visibility . What information is available online for visitors about Hibiscus and Bays as an ecotourism destination? Is it easy to find? . How well is the area linked to from global, national, regional and local web portals? . Local linkages . How strong are the online linkages across places in Hibiscus Coast and East Coast Bays? . Visitor experience . What might I do when I visit? . What type of experience would I have? . What attracts me to visit the area? . What are others saying about the experience of visiting this place? . What might I spend my money on? . Local stories and knowledge – Auckland’s fabric, and sense of place. Web audit – national, regional and local scale
http://www.newzealand.com http://www.doc.govt.nz
http://www.aucklandnz.com
http://www.orewabeach.co.nz http://www.gowhangaparaoa.co.nz/ www.whangaparaoa.info http://www.brownsbay.org.nz/ https://www.linku2hibiscuscoast.co.nz https://mairangibayvillage.co.nz http://www.torbay.co.nz/ http://www.tiritirimatangi.org.nz/ http://regionalparks.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/shakespear Google Search with common keywords
Keywords used included, but not limited to:
• Things to do in Auckland • Hibiscus Coast • Places to visit in Auckland • East coast beaches • Auckland tourism attractions • Shakespear Regional Park • Ecotourism in Auckland • Nature activities in Auckland • Nature walks in Auckland • Beaches in Auckland Links to TripAdvisor and aucklandnz.com but little that specifically highlights H&B to the visitor. theUrbanlist.co.nz often features on front page but H&B not prominently featured. Things to do in Auckland – Google ‘top sights’ – no listings in Hibiscus and Bays area http://www.planetware.com
theculturetrip.com www.aucklandnz.com Few results in the H&B area when searching for ecotourism in Auckland. (Long Bay only)
The area is not featured in Eco tours
www.aucklandnz.com Experience Auckland By Foot http://epiclittlemissions.co.nz/ Bush walks www.aucklandnz.com Wikipedia.com - examples Wikipedia.com
Google & Wikipedia
. When searching for ‘things to do’, ‘places to go’ etc. in Auckland (or New Zealand) visitors are not naturally . Wikipedia provides some prompted with information about H&B interesting information but . Good links to aucklandnz.com needs improvement. . Top results focus on Shakespear, Orewa Beach and Tiritiri Matangi . Increasing the amount . No apparent point of difference to other areas in and quality of content Auckland under headings: . Hibiscus Coast has a higher profile than East Coast environment, natural Bays in Google search results. areas, landmarks, birdlife, . Tramping clubs and ‘walks’ feature H&B quite well. beaches, transport, arts . Improved content on various national, regional and local and culture, points of portals will enhance search results/ranking. interest etc. is needed
There is some good information available – if you know where to look, and search for H&B National Level
www.newzealand.com www.doc.govt.nz National portal www.newzealand.com ‘Things to do’ H&B does not feature in the recommended places to cycle or walk in NZ www.newzealand.com – Short walks range between 30 minutes and 3 hours.
None featured in H&B.
Tourism New Zealand’s eGuide to Golf Courses in New Zealand.
Gulf Harbour listed as ‘Marquee Course’ but not as an ‘ Experience Course’.
An Experience Course showcases local culture, community spirit, country charm, and value for money. Additionally, they help form clusters around the Marquee Courses and form part of the New Zealand golf trails. There are 24 Experience Courses throughout New Zealand. www.newzealand.com – an opportunity to feature H&B area under ‘Nature and Wildlife’ – Neither Shakespear nor Tiritiri Matangi feature highly on these pages However, bird watching in Tiritiri Matangi – can be found a few levels down from top results Tourism New Zealand Operator Database Tourism New Zealand www.register.newzealand.com offer a free listing on www.newzealand.com. Anybody can write an article about Hibiscus and Bays, or any operator can add a listing. It’s easy to use and would boost the content about Hibiscus and Bays on www.newzealand.com.
This content also feeds through to www.aucklandnz.com (ATEED’s Auckland tourism portal). National level: Department of Conservation www.doc.govt.nz Tiritiri Matangi featured as a ‘Must See in Auckland’
Good information with an excellent PDF brochure for visitors.
These DOC brochures could be linked to from other local websites Okura Bush Walkway is featured on the DOC site. Good information on Kauri Dieback and also track information.
However information needs to be checked.
This is a 5-6 hour return walk. And our mystery visitors did not consider it an ‘easy track for some. Summary - National Level
. While H&B is not highly visible on the DoC website, there is a good level of . Hibiscus & Bays is not highly visible to information on this site about places of the visitor as a destination interest after a search for various places in . The national tourism portal provides H&B some good information on H&B if you . Information about Okura Bush Walkway look for it. needs to be checked . However, no real ‘sense of place’ . Make better use of the DOC brochures – our auditors thought these were excellent . Opportunity to highlight unique points of difference e.g. combination of bush . Overall – better linkages are needed to and beach, flora and fauna, golf, other places, activities, accommodation/hospitality, and attractions walkways and outdoor activities
Some good information on individual places can be found, but there is no real sense of cohesion Regional Level
www.aucklandnz.com Regional website: Aucklandnz.com (‘10 things you can only do in Auckland’ – places in H&B featured in Beaches and walks) with links to Auckland Council information aucklandnz.com
Cycling aucklandnz.com www.aucklandnz.com Hibiscus coast www.aucklandnz.com Hibiscus coast www.aucklandnz.com with links to local sites www.orewaholidaypark.co.nz www.aucklandnz.com Hibiscus coast aucklandcouncil.govt.nz Mountain Bike track, walking track
Long Bay and Shakespear appear in various categories such as activities, boating, camping back-country, bird watching but the information is quite similar Summary - Regional web presence
www.aucklandnz.com . BUT . Links to local ‘portals’ are needed and more listings for activities - . Good visibility of Hibiscus & Bays on nature-based and walkways and aucklandnz.com tracks . The visitor is presented with Hibiscus . Not as easy to find information on and Bays as a place to visit organically transport to or around the area, (does not specifically have to search) food and beverage options, . Good information about activities and heritage, cultural activities, etc. accommodation in Hibiscus Coast . “Would love to be able to sort information by ‘places’ in H&B”
Aucklandnz.com provides good information that will entice people to visit Hibiscus and Bays; adding even more local information would enhance content further Local level - Websites Business associations and www.GoWhangaparoa.co.nz Community, Conservation
groups www.orewabeach.co.nz Auditors preferred source of local information www.GoWhangaparoa.co.nz – produced by local residents
Information about the beaches and how to get there www.orewabeach.co.nz provided another useful source of information Good to see links to other places in and around Orewa beach – would be good to see links back to orewabeach.co.nz Few links to places in East Coast Bays – most are to ‘Rodney’ www.whangaparaoa.info https://www.whangaparaoa.info/Things-To- Do/Outdoors/Walking-Biking A good start but incomplete information www.Torbay.co.nz Homepage is not attractive but some information on ‘About’ page.
Links to PDF ‘Torbay walking tracks’ – these really appealed to our auditors. www.brownsbay.org.nz
Information on things to do, accommodation and ‘getting to Browns Bay’. One of few websites who offer residents and visitors information on local history. www.orewaholidaypark.co.nz www.tiritirimatangi.org.nz Useful information, good content, easy to use, numerous images. Created by the supporters of Tiritiri Matangi Inc.
Produced by the Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi, Inc Social Media: Facebook Facebook Facebook pages reveal a vibrant community – Orewa Beach Information found on various community pages included Shakespear Regional Park. This provided a level of ‘community’ interest for the Auditors. Promotion on Facebook by ATEED YouTube search for Hibiscus Coast and the Bays.
There are a number of excellent ‘drone’ videos of the area that could easily be linked to when promoting H&B.
NB: Fishing is noted as a ‘consumptive activity’ and not an area of focus for this Ecotourism audit. www.tripadvisor.co.nz – Excellent reviews of Shakespear Regional Park on TripAdvisor
Summary • There is some good information at a local level about various places in Hibiscus Coast and Whangaparoa. However, at a sub-regional level (Hibiscus Coast and East Coast Bays) there is little to tell residents and locals about the ‘Hibiscus and Bays experience’. • The Web presence does not gives visitors the feeling that H&B is a cohesive visitor destination. Ecotourism offerings are not sufficiently visible online to residents and visitors alike. • Education and learning are key components of ecotourism. If H&B is to be promoted as an ecotourism destination, better information is needed about flora and fauna, marine and coastal areas, culture and heritage, activities and attractions, local communities and storytelling about conservation efforts and everyday life.