Speech to Hawke’s Bay Tourism Conference – Chris Tremain
September 25, 2009
Ladies and gentlemen it is a real privilege to be asked to attend and to open your 2009 annual conference.
Can I take this opportunity to pass on the kind wishes of Tukituki MP Craig Foss.
Since the last conference we have had an election and a new Prime Minister who has taken on the role of Minister of Tourism. That role was not taken lightly. Tourism is one of the key drivers of our economy and up until recently it has been our opinion that it has not been given the priority it deserves in the ministerial line up.
Right now it could not have a better position.
In this regard Megan and the team at HB Tourism were keen to invite the Prime Minister to open this conference. Unfortunately as we speak he is either promoting NZ Tourism on the David Letterman Show or having a one on one with President Obama in attempt to continue to lift New Zealand’s trade relationship with the United States. Now while I appreciate the HB Tourism Conference is an important one I am sure you will excuse him and accept your local MP as his representative.
In saying this John did take the opportunity before leaving to record this video message of welcome and I would like to play that now.
Video Message
In my opening mihi I used a Whakatauki that challenges us to reach for the stars, to pull them close, to go after your dreams…
One of the benefits of an opening speaker is the opportunity to set the agenda, to get the conference thinking, to challenge the status quo, to challenge everyone to dream a little. Most opening speakers can do so without being challenged to follow through. That is not the case with myself or with Craig Foss.
We are here for the long haul to advocate for HB, to genuinely take HB forward. So what I say today I can’t just walk away from because like you I have some skin in the game.
Tourism in HB is one of our largest industries but from my point of view is still seriously under invested with huge opportunities for a slick, innovative and proactive sector all singing to the same hymn book.
Central to that hymn book is a clear sector wide plan which is diligently advocated and implemented.
Today I want to be the devil’s advocate in throwing a few thoughts into the tourism plan…
On the brand – here’s my two cents worth. I think that we have invested so much in the Wine Country branding that we should not consider changing. Wine Country has excellent top of mind awareness around the country. To diversify or break up the brand into a range of subsets would set us back years.
One of the problems with a brand is that those who see it day in and day out get tired of it. They want to see it changed almost on a yearly basis. I remember my days in the Real Estate business. Sure enough every six months the brand would get debated, too old, not the right colour, doesn’t represent us properly…. these were the regular cries… Sound familiar? The brand becomes the focus of all our woes.
Well let me tell you that the brand is not about us…its about our customers…its about how they view us and from my point of view the “Wine Country Brand” is where we should stay. Yes – lets evolve it but we’ve invested too heavily in Wine Country to even contemplate changing.
Overall our focus should be on the customers who choose to come to The Bay. What do they want and why do they come? In this regard we need to be very clear about our suite of products, of what we offer to both domestic and international tourists.
For me there are five key product offerings that sit comfortably under the Wine Country brand and which cross-pollinate to provide an outstanding tourist experience. They are in no particular order, although at different levels of development and capacity:
a.) Style and Architecture
b.) Art, Culture and Music
c.) Cuisine – Food and Wine
d.) Action – Sport and Recreation
e.) Maoritanga
I’m only going to comment in detail about three of these areas. Architecture, Sport and Recreation, and Maoritanga. With Art, Culture and Music and with Cuisine – Food and Wine, I think we are developing an amazing suite of products unmatched in the country. In these areas can I just encourage you to keep up the amazing work that you are doing. Keep building. Keep enhancing.
In this regard I think the new Regional Museum will be a further jewel in the crown of this product offering and am looking forward to supporting this project through to completion.
The only other point I’d make in regard to these two key areas is in regards to events. We all know that from Kelt Capital Race Day through to the end of April our calendar and rooms are full, but then its relatively quiet. I think there is still room to bring in a number of key events through the winter period which adds to the diary and ensures we have strong domestic tourism through the winter. I think this really needs to be a focus and we need to think right outside the square from Busker Festivals, to DJ Festivals, to Ball Room Dancing Festivals, to Extreme Games. And remember it’s not always about reinventing the wheel or starting from scratch. Sometimes it’s about repackaging an idea or buying someone else’s product. In New Zealand we have seen two recent and remarkable transfers of huge tourist products – Ellerslie Flower Show from Auckland to Christchurch and Wearable Arts from Nelson to Wellington. It might be a couple of big events or a range of small events. I think it is a priority and something we should be focusing on as a sector.
I do want to speak about the other three areas firstly Style and Architecture and in this regard especially Art Deco.
Art Deco sits central to our tourist mix. This is a genuine unique selling point that cannot be replicated in New Zealand or around the globe. Napier is a national and a global taonga.
In my opinion Art Deco allows us to take the high ground in style. Not that everyone across the Bay needs to be in Art Deco costume, no way, what it allows us to do is to take the high ground to champion style and creative flair across the rest of our product offerings. Take the recently opened Groove Kitchen or Opera Kitchen. Two great examples of style, not Art Deco, but definitely in keeping with what I am talking about.
And in regard to Art Deco as a specific product I personally think we need to make more of it. And I think this can be exemplified by what is achieved during the Art Deco Weekend and Deco Decanted. These two weekends are an outstanding experience. Come to Hawke’s Bay outside those weekends and the Art Deco product offering is significantly diminished. I think there are huge opportunities for Napier to build on the offering using a combination of public/private opportunities. What about an Art Deco Tram which connects the shopping precincts of Ahuriri and Napier? What about spooky Art Deco tours through the Napier Hill Cemetery? What about an Art Deco Cafeteria with waiters dressed in theme right on the Parade? The building could be built and owned by the council and run by a private company? What about a Cafe that utilises the sound shell space? What about a weekly Noel Coward Production in the Century Theatre? What about a permanent Art Deco Luge Track (similar to Rotoruas) where the luges are made in the form of Art Deco Box Cars? The perfect site would be the underutilised Park behind the Municipal Theatre? What about an Art Deco Vintage and Vesper Hire Depot on the Parade where hirers get to dress in Art Deco? The list goes on! What I am trying to say is that I think there is massive opportunity to build on Art Deco and that for Napier in particular we have only just touched the surface in this regard.
The other thing that Art Deco does for us is pitch us clearly into the style arena. Architecture can and will become an increasing feature of our landscape as more modern architects define their own style. Magdalinos, Holland, Louis Haye, Scott (just to name a few) – amazing architects who will increasingly add to our reputation for unique and inspiring architecture.
I’d now like to talk about Action – the Sport and Recreation tourism opportunity. One of our other Unique Selling Points in the North Island is our weather and the quality of our sports and recreation facilities. I think the new Regional Sports Park will be outstanding and will add to the wonderful array of sports assets including Park Island, McLean Park and the Pettigrew Green Arena.
Domestic tourism from this perspective is already massive. One only has to look at the numbers of domestic tourists that arrive here for Harry Findlay’s Cricket Camps through summer to see what impact a concentrated focus can have in this regard.
This is however an area that needs specific human capital investment. I think that Tourism HB together with Sport HB and particularly accommodation stakeholders need to play a bigger game here. I think there are massive opportunities for an incentivised team to package up opportunities on behalf of clubs and sports to attract a growing number of tournaments and to thereby fill more and more hotels and restaurants. I think the councils have a significant role to play here as well. Sure they need to get a return from visiting teams for the use of grounds, but somehow we need to arrive at a means where the HB product can be packaged up at a price that considers the wider benefit to the community. I don’t think this is just a matter of the councils dropping their pants on price. It is also up to wider beneficiaries of this tourism, largely accommodation providers, to stump up as well. By this time next year I’d like to see a dedicated team focused purely on bidding for national and international tournaments incentivised by the accommodation industry on the basis of bookings made.
While I’m on the Sport and Recreation bandwagon I can’t go past saying a few words about the amazing Cycleway opportunity that John discussed in his video.
In my opinion we’ve got to get amongst this opportunity and relatively quickly.
To this end Craig Foss and I have proposed a Cycleway Journey from Napier to Waipukurau.
We’re very keen to see Hawke’s Bay with an iconic Cycleway Journey. We want to see Hawke’s Bay put together a proposal to be included in the next round of allocations for the National Cycleway project.
Currently the Hawke’s Bay councils together with the Rotary Pathway Trusts have created an enviable network of cycle pathways. This is fantastic but what we believe is missing is an iconic Cycleway Journey. It could be called The Wine Country Cycleway
The proposal is a journey which utilises the current infrastructure from Napier to the corner of Mangateretere and Te Mata Roads in Havelock North. From there the journey would continue south along Matangi road, across private land beside the Tukituki River to Blind Road and then down Middle Road to the Patangata Pub and Waipukurau. We believe this route could be achieved relatively quickly however the ultimate aim would be to bring the track down beside the river as budgets permitted.
We think this would be an absolutely stunning ride through the Tukituki valley, taking in stops at Te Mata Estate, Craggy Range, and passing under the majestic Te Mata Peak” says Craig Foss.
“We have already approached landowners between Matangi Road and Blind Road to request their cooperation and assistance in allowing access over their land. We are hopeful of being able to conclude an arrangement with them to benefit the wider public.
We believe that a journey of this nature would promote a range of small tourism businesses especially accommodation clusters along the route.
A route of this nature would allow communities to the south to join forces and add to the route. Who knows … In the future we may see a journey from Hawke’s Bay all the way to Martinborough?”
It’s great to see the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council leading the charge here assisted by HDC and NCC. The HB Cycleway Steering Group is also currently working on the feasibility of a range of different routes including the Tukituki River with the aim of having a bid into the next round of budget allocations.
I am sure that this will benefit tourism in the Bay if we all get behind this project.
Lastly in regard to my five themes I’d like to say a few words about Maori tourism. In this space I think there are stunning opportunities. Overseas tourists (and increasingly domestic tourists) expect to see a suite of Maori tourism opportunities. In this regard I think there is huge potential as the current suite of products is limited.
In saying this it is great to see a range of new initiatives with the likes of Waiohiki Marae promoting the Waiohiki Pa Tour and visit to the Creative Arts Centre. These examples aside I think that we are only scratching the surface here.
The big issue is a lack of experience and a lack of capacity to go the distance necessary to build a market. It’s all very well coming up with a new product but if one doesn’t have deep pockets and it doesn’t make money from day one then it’s all over pretty quickly. I think the opportunity here is in joint ventures. Hawke’s Bay businesses that have existing tourism infrastructure and capacity should be talking to Ngati Kahungunu about the unique product offerings that can be produced. From Marae Sleepovers to Battle Site tours, from Powhiris to hangis, there are a range of opportunities to build on in partnership with Maori.
I thought that I’d close with a few words about one of our key regional tourism assets – the HB Regional Airport.
Craig and I campaigned to bring about an improvement in the length of the runway to encourage improved domestic competition. We also campaigned to ensure that majority ownership is ultimately brought into the hands of HB. We did not campaign on delivering an International Airport to Hawke’s Bay. Given the difficulties in other regions we still believe this is some way off. However a change of ownership from central Government to a HB entity will ensure that should the opportunity present in the future for an International Airport that the Bay is not limited by central Government waving a big stick saying you can’t do that. We want HB to be the master of its own destiny, to be able to set its own agenda.
The first step in getting a change in this respect was Corporatisation. This occurred on the 1st of July this year. A new board and company were established with the ownership of the assets transferred to the new company.
The second step takes place on the 30th of this month when the new Board will present a proposal to extend the runway to its shareholders. We are confident that a positive outcome in this regard will be imminent.
I add one caveat. The matter is complicated by the Board needing to lease land to extend the approach at the southern end of the runway from the Ahuriri Farm. This land is tied up as part of a Treaty Settlement, however local claimants are keen to work with the Government to see this progress. Local Iwi are also interested in the Government’s 50% stake in the Airport so it may be that Hawke’s Bay ownership of the Airport is achieved by Treaty Settlement first or if not by a sale to local councils second.
Regardless of this I want you to know that this is a focus for Craig and I and that we are working behind the scenes to bring this to a head as soon as possible. In fact Bill English told the Chamber of Commerce publicly last week that Craig and I had become irritatingly repetitive in our lobbying to move the Airport issue forward.
Summary
So thank you for the opportunity to speak to you this morning and to open your conference.
I am confident about the future of tourism in the Bay. There are indeed huge opportunities.
I believe we have a great brand that we should continue to invest in with ongoing evolution. Additional to this I believe we should be clear about our product offering. In Style and Architecture, in Arts, Culture and Music; in Cuisine – Food and Wine; in Action – Sport and Recreation, and in the opportunity of Maori Tourism; I think we have a unique suite of opportunities to grow our businesses and therefore our local economy.
Enjoy your conference and have a great day.
