News release

December 20, 2013

New visitor kiosk opens in the Square

A new visitor kiosk has been set up in Cathedral Square to help visitors get the most out of their stay in Christchurch.

The kiosk, which features a welcoming outdoor seating area, is open daily from 9.30am to 5pm throughout the summer to help visitors find their way around the city and to give them maps and information about the activities on offer in Christchurch and the surrounding area.

It is staffed by members of Christchurch & Canterbury Tourism’s i-SITE team, supported by volunteers who walk around the area between the Square, Worcester Boulevard and New Regent St offering friendly advice to visitors.

Christchurch & Canterbury Tourism chief executive Tim Hunter says the new kiosk is part of a push to improve the city’s visitor experience over the busy summer months.

“The central city is an interesting but challenging environment for our visitors so we want to make it as easy possible for them by providing visitor information in the heart of the Square where they can get up-to-date information and some friendly advice on where to go and what to do,’’ Mr Hunter says.

The Christchurch i-SITE, on Rolleston Avenue at the Botanic Gardens, is also being extended so that it can better cater for the growing number of visitors coming to Christchurch.

A 26sqm extension to the i-SITE will open by mid-January, increasing the number of information counters by 50 per cent, from six to nine.

“This will improve service speed as we go into the peak demand months of summer. Last year we processed 205,000 visitors through the Christchurch i-SITE and expect to assist more than 260,000 by the end of June 2014, a 27 per cent increase,” Mr Hunter says.

“We’ve got a healthy dollop of hotel rooms available in the city now, most of our tourist attractions are back up and operating and we expect strong growth in visitor numbers across this summer.”

International guest nights in Christchurch have increased by 26% this year, after being relatively flat in the previous year. Asian markets are contributing significantly to this growth.

“In addition to our usual summer influx of visitors we have the added benefit of 22 charter flights from Japan coming in and 10 additional services between Christchurch and Singapore. Also at the beginning of February, China Southern Airlines is bringing up to 228 passengers on a charter flight from Guangzhou so they can celebrate the Chinese New Year here.

“The fact Christchurch was recently chosen by Trip Advisor users as the number one ‘Destination on the Rise’ in the South Pacific shows that visitors to the city rate it highly and see it as a unique and inspirational destination, but we need to continually work to improve the visitor experience.’’

ENDS

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