Making Nelson the destination

On the surface, Nelson's visitor industry seems to be all about sunshine, good times and the odd drop of chardonnay. In fact it's a serious business that lines up along with forestry and fishing as one of the region's major earners. What's more, tourism is high in job creation, with every eight overseas visitors translating to a new job in the service sector.

But it is an aggressively competitive business and Nelson has to be out there 'flying the flag' to ensure people make the decision to put us on their holiday itinerary.

This is what destinational marketing is all about, and why the region¹s two local councils support their own marketing company Nelson Tasman Tourism.

"Our role is to add value to the region's economy through the visitor spend," says CEO Paul Davis. "As well as destinational marketing we now take a strong role in destinational management."

This means coordinating and voicing industry views on issues such as national park management, signage and roading. Nelson Tasman Tourism is also a contact point for investors and for people seeking information about the visitor industry. Another spin-off in economic growth from tourism is the high number of visitors who decide to invest and or live in Nelson.

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Return on Council investment

The Nelson City and Tasman District Councils help Nelson Tasman Tourism with funding, in 2005/2006 each Council invested $262,000. This covers administration and staff costs, and kick starts marketing projects. Also in 2005/2006 local businesses involved in tourism add a total of $815,000 in cash and product to the budget. The cash is derived through Visitor Centre commissions, investment in publications and membership of the international and conference marketing groups. Paul Davis says this is a very good return on the council spend.

"The councils made a strategic decision in 1994 to set up this company. It now allows us to negotiate marketing support of close to $900,000 from industry - this is very high compared with other regions around New Zealand," he said. "Without Nelson Tasman Tourism we wouldn't be able to put out a positive motivating external message about why people should come here."

Nelson Tasman Tourism operates the Nelson and Golden Bay i-sites and also helps fund independently run visitor information centres in Murchison, Richmond , Tapawera and Motueka. The regions main i-Site is being housed in the new Visitors Information Centre on the corner of Trafalgar and Halifax Streets. The Visitors Information Centre also provides a home for Nelson Tasman Tourism and space for DOC's new regional visitor centre. The building will function as a gateway to Nelson City and the greater Nelson region, and has been built by Nelson City Council and leased to Nelson Tasman Tourism and DOC.

Nelson Tasman Tourism portrays Nelson as a boutique high quality destination. This means we get higher spend visitors and higher value jobs with less impact on services and the environment.

Closing the gap

Nelson has the biggest difference between its peak and off-season visitor numbers of anywhere in New Zealand. This is partly due to the large proportion of camping ground accommodation in this region, filled in January by a big influx of kiwi holiday makers.

Right now Nelson Tasman Tourism is working hard on boosting off-season numbers, so that investment in visitor infrastructure gets year round use, and high value jobs take workers right through the year. One focus is on the conference sector.

"We have developed a conference assistance pack to help anyone wanting to pitch Nelson as a conference venue," Paul says. "People in sports clubs, community groups, professional bodies and businesses can use this information to help them 'sell' the idea of holding the annual conference in Nelson to their national organisation.

If you have ideas of events or facilities that would help attract visitors to Nelson in the winter time, please pass them on to: Astrid Fisher, Manager
Meetings and Conferences on +64 3 546 6228.