Regional Visitor Economies: Building Yield and Sense of Place Through Community Engagement and Business Networking

Regional Visitor Economies: building yield and sense of place through community engagement and business networking

Simon Milne NZTRI Global Tourism Research Key themes

. We need jobs and strong communities – Visitors have a role to play

. How do you attract and manage visitors? – Information is vital (signage, Internet)

. Network enterprises, communities and destinations – “We’re all in this together”

. Community support and engagement is essential, tourism must sustain and enhance local quality of life – “Communities will work for tourism if tourism works for communities” . Slow travel – Enhance opportunities for interaction . Decision support – research and strategy

Waiheke Island

Community

Importance of tourism to local economy

1% 3% 8% Unimportant

Of little importance 46% Neither important nor unimportant

Important 42% Very important

Community

Impact of tourism on community quality of life

4% 20% Very negative 17% Somewhat negative

Neither positive nor negative Somewhat positive 26% 33% Extremely positive

Community

Negative impacts of visitors coming to the region

Price vs. Commercialism service (7%) quality Traffic congestion / 17% parking (70%)

Environmental Negative damage impacts (45%)

Crime / Crowding vandalism 5% (17%) Poor infrastructure Visitor (roads, signage) behaviour (16%) (20%) Visitor

What did you find least attractive or appealing about this region on your recent visit?

Dirty / Rubbish (4%) Traffic Expensive (14%) (29%) Distance from Limited Auckland cafes (4%) (4%)

Access / Signage Aucklanders/ Urbanisation (4%) (5%) Least attractive

Bad weather Infrastructure Service (11%) (parking / roads) (4%) Busy / Crowded (31%) (11%) A traditional way of slowing tourists down Add to the experience … ???

Source: Stuart Dredge (www.techdigest.tv) Or give them some information on road …

Source: Interislander (www.interislander.co.nz/Our-Ships-And-Services/Kaitaki/iSITE.aspx) Better still, give visitors the information they need before, during and after travel and ‘connect’ them as they travel …

Source: LPHS (www.lphs.school.nz) How visible is South Kaipara?

South Head Glorit

Makarau Shelly Beach

Kaukapakapa

Parakai Helensville

Huapai Riverhead Waimauku Kumeu

Taupaki Muriwai The way we conducted our web audit

•newzealand.com •tourism.net.nz National •tourism.org.nz •localfoot.co.nz ; menumania.co.nz ; eventfinder.co.nz

•aucklandnz.com Regional •aucklandcity.govt.nz

•helensville.co.nz •myhelensville.co.nz •helensvillemuseum.org.nz Local •helensvillebusiness.org •kumeudistrict.co.nz •kumeuinfo.co.nz •oursouthkaipara.org Difficult to find relevant information for South Kaipara

A search based on the keyword “South Kaipara” showed only 2 pertinent results out of 20 What type of content pops up when searching your town ? Town Article Accom- Activity Comments modation provider

South Head Most results that do not match the right destination - over 400 results were found Glorit - 1 1 Pertinent results

Makarau - - - No results

Kaukapakapa 1 2 1 Pertinent results

Parakai 3 1 3 Pertinent results

Helensville 7 4 7 Pertinent results

Waimauku 4 2 10 Pertinent results

Kumeu 10 7 8 Pertinent results + link to local i-SITE and http://www.westauckland.net.nz Huapai 1 - - Pertinent results

Taupaki - 2 - Good results with 2 accommodation providers located in Taupaki Riverhead 1 1 5 Pertinent results for travellers + wedding planner promotion Muriwai 22 11 14 Pertinent results, appealing articles and pictures “South Kaipara” is hard to find… www.aucklandnz.com … but individual places are well represented in West Auckland

Kumeu, Muriwai, Helensville and Woodhill Forest are well depicted, the content is appealing

“The Fruit Bowl of Auckland” www.kumeudistrict.co.nz t.co.nz No link back to Kumeu District website… www.kumeuinfo.co.nz

The website is focused on promoting the region … but no link back to Kumeu District website! Online promotion of Helensville area helensville.co.nz www.kaiparamoana.com www.ngarimaokaipara.maori.nz www.oursouthkaipara.org Hard to find information about the entire area

Good linkages regarding individual places!

Good linkages to Wiki, local websites and local businesses!

Social media presence in a nutshell

www.youtube.com www.facebook.com www.twitter.com

. Good presence of South .“Our South Kaipara” page is . Just a few local businesses Kaipara, Parakia, Woodhill a great start for providing started to use Twitter for Forest, Muriwai, Taupaki, information on the entire providing and sharing Huapai area information about their own activities . Makarau, South Head and . Some Facebook fan pages Glorit do not display for individual places, local satisfying results businesses and community groups have been launched . Helensville and Kumeu are depicted as great places for . Linkages to other local burnout competitions and businesses or places are rallying. weak at this stage

. Outdated information is the main issue

A good start in using Facebook! Need to update online information and to build linkages amongst local businesses and individual places www.westernsouthland.co.nz

‘Local’ matters …

. National and regional marketing and development (top-down) need to be supported by local content, information and collaboration (bottom-up)

. Local stories and knowledge enhance the competitiveness and uniqueness of communities, destinations and nations (the fabric)

. Interactive visitors require interactive communities

Thank You