Major efforts under way to reboot Canterbury's stricken tourism sector

Wednesday, 13 May 2020

Ensuring events like the Bread & Circus buskers festival thrive will be a juggling act for a post-coronavirus tourism industry.

Tourism in Canterbury is set to get a boost from a new campaign to bring Kiwis to the region — and Cantabrians are being urged to explore their own back yard.

With the coronavirus pandemic forcing the cancellation of thousands of overseas holidays, tourism operators hope New Zealanders will spend their dollars seeing the sights of their own country.

Major efforts are under way to bring tourists back to Canterbury and get them spending to help stricken businesses.

A major drive led by Tourism New Zealand to encourage Kiwis to travel domestically could be rolled out as early as next week, and economic development agency ChristchurchNZ is working with regional partners to bring people to Canterbury.

Its bosses will speak with Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis and the chief executive of Tourism New Zealand on Friday to discuss how their efforts might dovetail with a national tourism plan.

* Coronavirus: Madam Woo latest Christchurch restaurant to close its doors

* Major NZ tourism operator Skyline Enterprises to cut half its jobs

* South Island tourism will recover despite 'devastating' blows

While details of Canterbury’s campaign, called Explore CHC, are yet to be unveiled, there is already a big push to get people to holiday and spend locally.

ChristchurchNZ is helping businesses that normally cater for international tourists to instead attract Kiwis to the region.

Thirty-five tourism operators have signed up to a programme giving them $2000 of support for marketing, planning and advice to help reshape their businesses to work better for domestic travellers; another 50 have shown interest in taking part.

With travel restrictions being loosened as the country moves to Alert Level 2 on Thursday, an online marketing campaign aims to encourage people across Christchurch, Canterbury and the South Island to spend their money and enjoy “staycations”.

“We know that Canterbury residents spend $6 offshore for every $1 they spend on a tourism attraction in New Zealand,” said ChristchurchNZ general manager of destination and attraction Loren Heaphy.

Debbie Horncastle, owner and general manager of Christchurch's Pavilions Hotel, hopes to take advantage of marketing help offered by ChristchurchNZ: 'We just need to get bookings in.'

“We’re hoping that by supporting the tourism industry who are primarily focused on international audiences to change their experience to suit a domestic audience we’re able to capture a little bit more of that domestic spend.”

Among those signed up to the programme is the Pavilions Hotel on Christchurch’s Papanui Rd, owned for the past 28 years by the Horncastle family.

After a “significant” downturn in business from the lockdown, the easing of restrictions has had phones ringing again and bookings coming in from across the country.

Events like Bread & Circus are a major driver in bringing domestic visitors to Christchurch.

Owner and general manager Debbie Horncastle said: “Any kind of marketing to us at the moment, and branding to get our name out there, is exactly what we need. We just need to get bookings in.”

ChristchurchNZ is also working to ensure events — a key driver of domestic visitors to the city — remain on the calendar.

There are hopes Christchurch will still be able to host the Women’s Cricket World Cup final in January, and ChristchurchNZ is working with the buskers festival Bread & Circus, which usually attracts international acts, on what an event with local performers would look like.

ChristchurchNZ general manager of destination and attraction Loren Heaphy hopes the Budget will support events.

Tourism is a major pillar in Canterbury’s economy, producing $4.9 billion of its $30b gross domestic product; in 2018, 8800 businesses in tourism-related industries employed almost 70,000 people.

The lockdown has wounded the industry deeply, with bars and restaurants falling victim and major players such as Ngāi Tahu Tourism, Aoraki Mt Cook’s Hermitage Hotel and Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa cutting jobs and mothballing operations.

While Davis has been tight-lipped about a recovery plan, there are hopes a promised support package being announced in Thursday’s Budget will be substantial.

Heaphy hopes it will deliver significant support for the events industry, from business and major events to those at a regional and community level.

“It was one of the earliest-hit industries and will be one of the last to recover.

“The national events sector has asked for an $80m support package and we’d really like to see that go ahead, with a proportion of it specifically for regions and cities like Christchurch in supporting us restimulating events so that we can stimulate domestic tourism.

“We’d also like to be really clear on what Tourism New Zealand’s domestic budget will look like … and would like to see a continuation of the wage subsidy, particularly for tourism events and hospitality businesses that have been impacted by the visitor sector.”