<p>Fifteen years ago when I told people I worked for Tourism
Wellington they would look shocked and ask: "Is there tourism in
Wellington?"</p>
Of course we all know the well-documented success of Wellington
as a destination, but since that time there have been many other
success stories in the industry.
When we started trying to coordinate a tourism industry in
Wellington there were some grass roots problems. There was no
retail to speak of in the weekend and if you wanted to park your
car in the central city on a Saturday or Sunday you got stung with
a significant parking fee.
A lifestyle, not a business
While the number of tourism operators was steadily growing, many
of them were part-timers keeping their doors shut unless they had
an inquiry, and there was no
indication they were even slightly interested in quality
assurance.
Wellington was not alone with these issues. I remember
participants at some of the early Tourism New Zealand regional
seminars admitting they didn't have a website, nor some even an
email address. "I run down the road to use my daughter's email if I
need to," one budding accommodation operator once told me.
There were many who had taken up tourism as a retirement option.
They looked confused when we talked about developing a marketing
plan; some were even troubled at the concept of a business plan.
The complexity of the international tourism distribution system was
enough to send some running for the door. From a profile
perspective those investing in media monitoring of tourism coverage
would have felt shortchanged.
Fighting for profile
There was next to no news about tourism and it was never
mentioned as a key earner by central government let alone in any
central economic development plans. Regional politicians were a
little quicker to spot the growing opportunity but they had a fight
on their hands with their farming communities.
Ten years ago at Tourism New Zealand we made a commitment to
getting tourism into the business pages of the media. We put a lot
of time into encouraging, leading and, dare I say, slightly
manipulating journalists into taking our business more
seriously.
And collectively the industry started putting the same amount of
effort into talking to politicians and showing them the
opportunities tourism could offer them and their constituents.
Tourism started popping up more and more in politicians' speeches
and media releases. Then PM Helen Clark even took three days out of
her schedule to be filmed for a Discovery Channel tourism
programme.
How far we have come. Fifteen years later the country's top man
runs our portfolio. Tourism is on the map as an economic
development industry with huge potential.
How far we've come
We have a strong core of slick professional, technology-savvy
tourism operators who increasingly understand the importance of
quality assurance, and our retailers mostly open their doors on
Sundays. We have a government that finally increased Tourism New
Zealand's budget to a level where it can have a real impact in some
markets and is able to put some money on the table to be a
significant partner with the private sector.
Have we gone far enough? There is still enormous potential to
communicate the value of tourism in New Zealand. I am sad to say
that during my time (with Tourism New Zealand) we never managed to
realise the vision of a tourism version of Country
Calendar despite an enormous range of quirky and inspiring
tourism stories.
Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) still have the annual
battle of trying to maintain or grow their funding. National
tourism organisations, along with our Minister, still have to keep
pushing the importance of tourism to decision makers, including
Cabinet and Treasury.
Game on
At the same time we still appear to be competing with, rather
than working with, other industries. In the past few weeks there
has been a raging debate about the effect decisions made in the
dairy industry and discussions around mining might have on our
industry.
I'm preaching to the converted when I say the tourism industry
has had an enormous impact on New Zealand and its communities in
the past 10-15 years. But there is much more we can do.
The Rugby World Cup will give us a unique opportunity to help
New Zealanders understand the importance of tourism and how they
can play a part in this industry - whether they formally get
involved by becoming volunteers or informally just help tourists
with directions and ideas of things to do.
The industry should be there to encourage the groundswell of
interest in tourism and events there will be if (when) the Cup is a
success.
Cas Carter is Massey University's Assistant
Vice-Chancellor (external relations) and former General Manager
Corporate Communications at Tourism New Zealand. She spent 10 years
with Tourism New Zealand, from 1999 through till March 2010.