Fund tourism to grow Wellington economy – TIA

Fund tourism to grow Wellington economy – TIA

Cutting investment in destination marketing or visitor infrastructure is not an efficient or effective way to encourage economic growth in Wellington, the Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA) says.

TIA is urging Wellington City Council to maintain its current level of funding to both Positively Wellington Tourism (PWT) and Te Papa.

In its submission to the council’s Draft Long Term Plan 2012-2022, TIA says it does not support the proposed reduction in funding for Positively Wellington Tourism’s Australia marketing campaign.

“Reducing this investment from $1 million a year to $800,000 simply doesn’t make sense. Australian arrivals into Wellington have increased 21% in the 24 months since the activity launched in March 2010. Australia is Wellington’s number one international visitor market and that marked growth has been key to buffering the industry from a tough few years,” TIA Sector Manager – Hotels, Rachael Shadbolt says.

TIA notes the campaign is entirely funded from the Downtown City Levy, which many TIA Wellington member hotels contribute to. A mid-sized hotel of about 150 rooms contributes about $33,000 a year to this fund and there are about 10 hotels this size or larger in the Downtown area.

TIA also backed the continuation of the $200,000 annual investment in attracting long-haul airlines to Wellington.

“The removal of this funding will mean PWT is no longer able to continue the good progress made in this area,” Ms Shadbolt says.

TIA opposed any reduction in council funding to Te Papa as this would affect Wellington’s ability to grow its visitor economy, she says. The museum is Wellington’s most popular visitor attraction and its ability to attract appealing exhibitions is vital to encouraging both international and domestic travellers to the city.

The association supports the proposal to invest $4 million to fund the refit of an alternative conference venue while the Wellington Town Hall is closed for earthquake strengthening.

“The meetings and conventions market is critical to Wellington, providing hotels with a constant flow of high yielding guests throughout the year. In 2011, convention business equated to 8% of all hotel rooms sold, or 62,334 rooms,” Ms Shadbolt says.

“It is also a lucrative tourism sector worth about $100 million to Wellington each year. It’s vital that an attractive alternative conference venue is available, otherwise Wellington runs the risk of losing business to other regions and even other countries.”

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