Waikato Business News July/August 2018
Waikato Business News has for a quarter of a century been the voice of the region’s business community, a business community with a very real commitment to innovation and an ethos of co-operation.
Waikato Business News has for a quarter of a century been the voice of the region’s business community, a business community with a very real commitment to innovation and an ethos of co-operation.
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10 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS <strong>July</strong>/<strong>August</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />
<strong>Waikato</strong> riding<br />
tourism wave<br />
The visitor boom is seeing tourism operator<br />
Waitomo Adventures go full steam ahead,<br />
with a new adventure centre and day spa<br />
to open in December, followed by further<br />
development of a 23 ha site.<br />
By RICHARD WALKER<br />
That’s on the back of<br />
its interactive Troll<br />
Cave, which is aimed at<br />
youngsters along with corporate<br />
team building and opened<br />
last year.<br />
Waitomo Adventures<br />
founder Nick Andreef says the<br />
three-storey adventure centre<br />
is stage one of a bigger complex<br />
with the working name of<br />
Waitomo Rock.<br />
Progress Waitomo, a joint<br />
Waitomo Adventures founder Nick Andreef with the<br />
animatronic troll that features in the Troll Cave.<br />
venture between the Andreef<br />
and Juno families, also has<br />
the resource consents for a<br />
new bar, restaurant and function<br />
centre with a 500-person<br />
capacity.<br />
Also in the pipeline for the<br />
site is a 70m bungy tower on a<br />
restored wetland.<br />
It’s a huge vote of confidence<br />
in the future of tourism,<br />
and one that builds on 10<br />
years of growing visitor numbers<br />
in Waitomo.<br />
“There’s an estimated<br />
increase from 450,000 to more<br />
than 700,000 tourists coming<br />
through Waitomo village now.<br />
It’s massive,” says Nick.<br />
That growth is reflected<br />
across the region, with visitor<br />
spend growing by six percent<br />
in the year ending May <strong>2018</strong>,<br />
pushing it up to $1.542 billion,<br />
according to figures from<br />
the Ministry of <strong>Business</strong>,<br />
Innovation and Employment.<br />
Of that, domestic tourists<br />
spent $1.156 billion while<br />
international visitors spent<br />
$365 million.<br />
<strong>Waikato</strong> has the fifth highest<br />
share of the national market,<br />
ahead of Rotorua and<br />
Bay of Plenty. Hamilton and<br />
<strong>Waikato</strong> Tourism chief executive<br />
Jason Dawson says<br />
one of the growth areas is<br />
international visitors staying<br />
overnight in the region for<br />
their first or final night, given<br />
<strong>Waikato</strong>’s proximity to Auckland<br />
International Airport.<br />
“It is far cheaper and more<br />
affordable to start in <strong>Waikato</strong>.<br />
We’ve pushed that in international<br />
markets for many years,<br />
and the last year it’s starting<br />
to pay off.”<br />
The region’s big three<br />
attractions are Waitomo, Hobbiton<br />
and Hamilton Gardens,<br />
and the challenge facing the<br />
industry is to broaden the<br />
appeal for tourists and keep<br />
them staying longer.<br />
Jason points to a developing<br />
range of options including<br />
River Riders, trails like the<br />
Hauraki Rail Trail and Sanctuary<br />
Mountain Maungatautari.<br />
He says they meet a key<br />
requirement of modern travellers:<br />
authenticity. “Authentic<br />
is Sanctuary Mountain - you<br />
get to see New Zealand wildlife<br />
up close and personal.”<br />
That idea informs the<br />
agency’s approach to development<br />
in the area, building on<br />
a plan which includes a focus<br />
on the <strong>Waikato</strong> River, regional<br />
events, and <strong>Waikato</strong> as home<br />
of Kiingitanga.<br />
“It is about looking at our<br />
current assets - we have a lot<br />
of assets here - and improving<br />
the story telling around them,”<br />
Jason says. “The Māori aspect<br />
is significant, it is a selling<br />
point.”<br />
Visitor boost for Hamilton eatery<br />
Lonely Planet helped put<br />
Vietnamese eatery Banh<br />
Mi Caphe on the map.<br />
The cafe opened on Victoria St<br />
in 2013 with what was then a<br />
rare cuisine for the Hamilton<br />
scene. It took a while to establish<br />
itself, but then along came<br />
Lonely Planet. The reviewer<br />
had obviously enjoyed their<br />
meal at the eatery, and written<br />
it up accordingly. The cafe has<br />
never looked back.<br />
Ann Chaimontree, who<br />
co-owns the restaurant with<br />
her husband Pat, remembers<br />
the time. “Since that we’ve<br />
seen a massive surge in tourists<br />
coming to try our food, mainly<br />
the French and the German - I<br />
think because they’re more<br />
aware of Vietnamese food.”<br />
Since then the cafe has<br />
shifted to a larger, more<br />
upmarket site beside Victoria<br />
on the River, and the backpacker<br />
trade brought in by<br />
Lonely Planet has become less<br />
significant. It made Lonely<br />
Planet twice, with its welcome<br />
boost to business, and Ann<br />
also points to the value of Trip<br />
Advisor for cafes and restaurants.<br />
She says Hobbiton is often<br />
mentioned by tourists dining<br />
at the cafe. “A lot of them,<br />
are really into the Lord of the<br />
Rings.”<br />
Hamilton Gardens is also<br />
big for the out-of-town visitors<br />
they talk to. “We see that<br />
on a Saturday, if they’re coming<br />
from Auckland they tend<br />
to stop here and have lunch,<br />
and then they’ll go off to the<br />
Gardens before carrying on<br />
elsewhere.”<br />
Theirs is an example of<br />
the many ways in which tourism<br />
spreads out through an<br />
economy, beyond the obvious<br />
drawcards and destinations.<br />
In turn, it reinforces the value<br />
of such establishments for the<br />
tourism industry.<br />
Ann and Pat Chaimontree at their<br />
Banh Mi Caphe in central Hamilton.<br />
Photo: Sarah Brook, The Image Workshop<br />
Artist's impression of the SkyGarden, a 70 metre bungy tower planned for Waitomo.<br />
One example is the current<br />
piloting of battle re-enactments<br />
at Rangiriri by local iwi,<br />
supported by Hamilton and<br />
<strong>Waikato</strong> Tourism. Another is<br />
the tours by Tahi Rangiawha<br />
of Waireinga-Bridal Veil Falls<br />
in summer. “He takes them on<br />
a guided tour, talks about the<br />
medicinal values of the flora<br />
and fauna you see there, there<br />
is some reenactment, they do<br />
waiata at night,” Jason says.<br />
“He’s looking at other things<br />
like waka tours on our rivers<br />
as well.”<br />
It’s not only operators who<br />
benefit from the growth, it’s<br />
the likes of cafes, restaurants<br />
and bus transport companies<br />
as well, Jason says. He points<br />
to Raglan, where 40 percent<br />
of the housing stock is holiday<br />
homes.<br />
Meanwhile, commercial<br />
guest nights have grown significantly<br />
for the region over<br />
the last five years.<br />
“But what we’re seeing<br />
is it’s starting to plateau, and<br />
that’s down to availability. We<br />
need two [more hotels] here<br />
in Hamilton, we need one<br />
in Waitomo, we need one in<br />
Raglan, one in Matamata. We<br />
need some good, large, high<br />
quality accommodation.”<br />
Nick Andreef also points<br />
to the need for good quality<br />
accommodation as a way of<br />
keeping visitors. He believes<br />
Waitomo has failed to capitalise<br />
on the opportunities from<br />
its growth, with just an estimated<br />
17.5 percent of visitors<br />
to the area staying overnight.<br />
The village lacks high<br />
quality accommodation for<br />
the independent travellers that<br />
Nick believes are important<br />
for the tourism business in<br />
New Zealand.<br />
“Think about a couple that<br />
have just given me $1200 to<br />
go caving for the day.<br />
“They’ve often had what<br />
they describe as the best<br />
experience that they had in<br />
New Zealand or even in their<br />
lives. They’ve been abseiling<br />
hundreds of metres, they’ve<br />
been swimming along raging<br />
underground rivers, they’ve<br />
been leaping off things and<br />
climbing things, and they’re<br />
completely knackered.<br />
They’re hungry, and all they<br />
want is to have a nice celebratory<br />
glass and put their heads<br />
down on a very nice pillow,<br />
but they will not stay at a<br />
backpackers.<br />
“So they get in their cars<br />
and they drive off to Rotorua.<br />
“We lose them here in<br />
<strong>Waikato</strong> and it’s only because<br />
we don’t have the right sort of<br />
upmarket accommodation.”<br />
He says that could come in<br />
different forms, from a hotel<br />
to glamping or self-contained<br />
chalets.<br />
“We’ve done the numbers<br />
on this. A five percent increase<br />
would result in a brand new<br />
100 room hotel being 60 percent<br />
full. So there’s a massive<br />
opportunity here for a<br />
hotel. The challenge is that<br />
we’re seasonal. Whereas we<br />
get about 3000 tourists a day<br />
in summer, it drops down to<br />
about 800 or 900 in the bottom<br />
of winter.<br />
“That’s what a number of<br />
different entities have been<br />
struggling with.”<br />
The tourism mix at<br />
Waitomo, at 80 percent international<br />
visitors, is very different<br />
from other parts of<br />
<strong>Waikato</strong>. Of the tourists taking<br />
in the “golden triangle” -<br />
Auckland, Waitomo, Rotorua<br />
- 85 percent head to Waitomo<br />
first. The challenge then is to<br />
encourage them to stay longer<br />
in the region.