King Country gets $100,000 to boost tourism

A proposal to boost tourism numbers and spending in the King Country region has been welcomed by Minister for Industry and Regional Development, Jim Anderton.

The Development King Country Trust has received $100,000 under Industry New Zealand’s Regional Partnership Programme to get local tourism operators to work together to bring about long-term growth and jobs.

“This is an important opportunity for King Country businesses to work together to ensure the region is seen as a significant, long stay, tourist destination,” said Jim Anderton.

“Sustainable growth in the regions is key to New Zealand’s economic success, through grants and programmes like this I am committed to helping regions to create more high paying, high skilled jobs, and attract investment.”

Chief Executive of Development King Country Trust David Hearn is welcoming the Industry New Zealand grant; “We’ve got nearly 500,000 tourists visiting Waitomo Caves every year. The funding means we can build on those numbers and spread the benefits of tourism throughout the King Country region.”

Tourism operators in the region will be invited to join a regional marketing programme that will provide cost-effective sales and marketing support, and activities that each individual operator would not be able to achieve on their own.

“We believe that the most effective way of improving tourism in the region overall is by setting standards, and providing incentives for tourism operators to reach those standards,“ said Mr Hearn. In joining the programme the operators will be asked to meet predefined levels of service, delivery and financial performance. Meeting these standards will be the criteria for membership.

“We want to promote the King Country as a value for money, quality tourism destination – and we want all our communities to benefit from a well planned, long-term approach to tourism development in the region, “ said Mr Hearn.

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