Education and yoga among ideas to revive Fiordland

Wednesday, 10 June 2020

The Kepler Challenge 60km Mountain Run is a popular event in Fiordland. The community board is considering creating more events to attract more visitors. Pictured here are runners nearing the hut on Mt Luxmore during the 2019 race.

Education centres and a yoga retreat are among the ideas floated by residents to help the Fiordland community reduce its reliance on tourism.

Residents and business owners met with the Fiordland Community Board and Southland District deputy mayor Ebel Kremer this week for a forum discussions on ways to restart the Te Anau/Fiordland economy.

Heavy flooding in February, followed by border closures in March had disrupted a usually busy period for the tourism destination and businesses in the area were struggling, Kremer said.

Fiordland Community Board chair Sarah Greaney said creating more permanent, year-round jobs along with more diverse businesses was already a priority for the board, as outlined in its Community Futures Plan (released in March).

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Fiordland Community Board chair Sarah Greaney

“One of our aims is to offer a broader range of options to encourage people to live and work in Te Anau and improve the economy,” she said.

Greaney said the forum meeting attracted more people than she expected it to.

It was a productive discussion with a wide range of possible solutions, she said.

One option was to partner with education providers to bring trade schools to the area, Greaney said.

Other opportunities would be sought in recycling, outdoor training, and the scope of research conducted in the area.

Tourism-related ideas included adding more events to the local calendar throughout the year and marketing Te Anau as a health and wellbeing destination with a yoga retreat.

Greaney said residents also suggested that the town's buildings, roads and infrastructure would need to be upgraded.

“It's just a matter of executing now,” she said.

The ideas raised in the forum meeting would be condensed and delivered to the community board in the next few weeks, Greaney said.

The board would then look for ways to align the ideas with the existing Community Futures Plan, before breaking into smaller groups to work on implementation.

Some ideas could be implemented sooner, but others would need to be part of a long-term plan, Greaney said.

'Everything requires funding,' she said.