Waikato Business News May/June 2023

More documents

Recommendations

Info

26 CONFERENCE & EVENTS WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS, MAY/JUNE 2023 H3 celebrates their 10th year hosting the Hospice Waikato Bucket List Banquet The H3 team are delighted to celebrate their 10th Hospice Waikato Bucket List Banquet held at GLOBOX Arena, Claudelands last month. Their proud sponsorship began in 2013 and since then the H3 team have gone above and beyond delivering an exceptional event each year. The Hospice Waikato Bucket List Banquet is a very special, prestigious, and unique charitable opportunity held annually for businesses to support Hospice Waikato. The event hosts more than 1,000 guests inside GLOBOX Arena, Claudelands - aimed at celebrating the incredible work that Hospice Waikato does within our community, with guests enthusiastically participating in live and silent auctions to raise valuable funds for the charity. The funds raised from the banquet enable Hospice Waikato to continue delivering specialist community palliative care and a variety of support services to those most in need. The extent of H3’s sponsorship is impressively vast, and planning for an event of this scale begins months prior – during this 10 year period H3 and Hospice Waikato’s relationship has flourished, and their successful 10th Hospice Waikato Bucket List Banquet held at GLOBOX Arena, Claudelands collaboration has led to great success year after year. Melissa Williams, H3 Business Development and Sales Manager - Business Events, says Hospice Waikato Bucket List Banquet is certainly a flagship event, and an annual highlight for our H3 team. Each year we work closely with Hospice Waikato, to bring this wonderful event to life. “As we reflect on past years it’s incredible to see the significant growth of this event. When Hospice Waikato Bucket List Banquet began in 2013, it was originally held in the Heaphy Rooms at Claudelands Events Centre. As interest and support grew amongst the business community and across the region, each year, our team was motivated and empowered to push the boundaries, strive for improvement, and unleash their creative potential.” “Our contribution to this event includes many components such as, an experienced operations team, dedicated event and client experience coordinators, usage of equip- ment and many different spaces across Claudelands for multiple days, and most importantly the full support and expertise of our H3 Technical Services Team.” Since the beginning, Melissa says, “H3’s experienced and passionate Technical Services Team have been a fundamental part of what makes Hospice Bucket List Banquet incredibly magical each year”. Led by Sven Ladewig, H3 Technical Services Manager – Sven and his team consistently exceed expectations. Their unwavering attention to detail and expertise in lighting, sound, and production features are instrumental in ensuring that H3 continues to deliver events of the highest caliber. Every banquet is infused with a distinctive theme, ranging from the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, Enchanted Earth, and most recently, the masquerade-themed Flutter & Feast. Regardless of the theme, the H3 Technical Services Team Melissa Williams, H3 Business Development and Sales Manager - Business Events consistently delivers extraordinary results. Whether it entails hanging 151 lights, suspending 45 mirror balls, setting up 237 meters of truss, or dedicating 580 hours to assembling this awe-inspiring spectacle, they consistently exceed expectations with enthusiasm and skill. Melissa reflects, “Ten years ago, no one could have predicted the remarkable success that the Hospice Bucket List Banquet would achieve, nor could we have imagined the incredible outpouring of kindness and generosity from the attendees. However, year after year, we have had the privilege of witnessing and contributing to the growth of this event and discovering its significant impact on people’s lives. For our team, this event holds a special place in our hearts. We understand the immense pressure and hard work required to ensure its flawless execution, but it is all worth it for such a meaningful cause. Thanks to the kindness of all those who donated, Hospice Waikato raised an astounding $505,000 this year. We eagerly look forward to starting the planning process for the 2024 Hospice Waikato Bucket List Banquet, our team are excited to continue making a difference. LIGHTING UP MEANINGFUL EVENTS Thanks to the expertise of our Technical Services team. Proud supporters of The Hospice Waikato Bucket List Banquet h3group.co.nz h3-group-nz
Waikato locals positive about tourism’s impact TELLING WAIKATO’S STORY BY NICOLA GREENWELL Chief executive, Hamilton & Waikato Tourism Going on holiday and exploring new places takes us out of our daily routine, creates lasting memories, and allows us to meet new friends and experience new cultures. It can also positively impact the people and communities being visited, especially if it’s done sustainably and with consideration in equal measure by visitors, the businesses hosting them, and the many parties responsible for creating the infrastructure that supports their stay. In early May we received the results of the latest Views on Tourism: Hamilton & Waikato survey. This annual study measures Waikato residents’ opinions about tourism and its impacts, helping us to determine our sector’s ‘social licence’ to operate, taking stock of just how sustainable and beneficial tourism is in our region. The most recent survey ran between December 2022 and March 2023 and it shows positive results, including the finding that 85 per cent of Waikato residents believe they have personally benefitted from tourism activity in our region. While some residents reported a few negative impacts in their local area, such as trouble finding a car park, litter or traffic congestion, it was heartening to see that 76 per cent of respondents felt positive action was being taken to address these issues. The results also suggested a growing pride in our region, with a larger proportion of residents in this year’s survey saying they think people from outside the region think it is a good place to visit. Many residents believe visitors to Waikato see it as a beautiful clean, green destination, with Waitomo Caves, Hobbiton Movie Set and Hamilton Gardens identified as being among the key visitor attractions, along with natural assets such as the Waikato River, walking and cycling trails and the region’s beaches. One of the unique aspects of this Views on Tourism research is its calculation of a Tourism Approval Rating score based on residents’ responses to key survey questions. On this measure, Waikato residents gave domestic tourism a higher approval rating than international tourism (51 for international versus 67 for domestic). Approval ratings for domestic and international tourism were higher this year than in last year’s survey and both were regarded more positively by Waikato residents than by their counterparts in the rest of New Zealand. While the drivers of these rising approval ratings will be many, the recovery from Covid is likely to be a factor. Travel restrictions and the impact of diminished visitor numbers throughout the pandemic caused businesses to close and this in turn enabled greater awareness of tourism’s contribution to employment and the vibrancy of communities, including their local hospitality scenes. In recent months I have spoken a lot about the national shift towards ‘regenerative tourism’ and the focus on creating a sector that actively contributes to the communities and the environment in which we operate. More than just dollars and cents, our regional destination management plan is about creating vibrancy of place, employment and education opportunities, preserving and celebrating our cultural heritage, encouraging social interactions between locals and visitors, developing a sense of regional pride and protecting the environment. As we continue to evolve in this space, there is the opportunity for improvement. With visitor numbers continuing to rebound, many respondents commented on the need for improved community infrastructure to make sure spikes in visitor numbers don’t negatively impact locals. Other top priorities residents identified included making sure tourism creates local employment opportunities, continued efforts to attract domestic visitors, and work to encourage visitors to travel outside of peak season and more widely across our region. Addressing these priorities is part of our Destination Management Plan and we will continue to work closely with councils, iwi, tourism operators and our many communities to explore new ways to ensure tourism remains a positive force for Waikato. Is it a good time to build? If you’ve been thinking of building a new house the past two years may have been a worrying time. High demand, staffing limitations and supply chain challenges have conspired to produce rapidly escalating prices. Those economic conditions in the NZ building industry postcovid have meant that builders have been at first reluctant, and in many cases simply unable, to provide fixed price building contracts – in turn making bank financing difficult to secure. However, there are some promising signs that conditions are changing: Drop in demand. Firstly the level of demand has dropped quite substantially, with building consent statistics recently showing clear reductions. March was the fifth consecutive month showing a drop LANDMARKS BY PHIL MACKAY Phil Mackay is Business Devolpment Manger at Hamilton-based PAUA, Procuta Associates Urban + Architecture in consents for new dwellings nationally. According to Statistics NZ, in the 12 months to March this year, 46,924 new dwellings were consented, down 7.9% compared to the previous 12 months. Supply chain. While some challenges certainly still exist with the building materials supply chain, generally speaking it seems we’re past the worst. There are still some materials increasing in price, however in the past few months we’ve had some initial indications of price reductions. It’s still a mixed bag, but there are signs that on average, pricing is stabilising. Builders looking for work. What has become very clear in talking to builders that we work with, is that builders and tradespeople are hungry for more work. While most still have plenty of work for the remainder of 2023, they are actively looking for projects to quote for with a view to locking in some jobs for 2024. Finance. Given that material prices are largely stabilising and builders are actively looking for work, it makes sense that, anecdotally at least, most builders are now willing to provide fixed price quotes again. While interest rates are still high and likely to remain that way for some time, some of the other rules around bank financing are being relaxed somewhat by the reserve bank and government. At a recent Cambridge Business Chamber event, mortgage brokers and other experts expressed optimism that access to bank financing is still very much achievable and, importantly, improving. So should you build now? Well that obviously depends on your situation, and you should definitely talk to your accountant, mortgage broker, and architect first. According to REINZ average house prices are down 17.5% nationally from their peak, so if you’re weighing up whether to build new or buy existing, it’s likely that the numbers for building new don’t yet stack up. However if you’re looking to build new and it’s just a question of timing, there’s a good chance that now is in fact a great time. By the time you’ve worked with an architect to design your house there ought to be more free capacity in the industry and plenty of builders eager to provide competitive pricing for you.
Page 1 and 2: MAY/JUNE 2023 VOLUME 31 ISSUE 5 REA
Page 3 and 4: Women’s World Cup Football fever
Page 5 and 6: Company-X wins ExportNZ Top Tech Ex
Page 7 and 8: WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS, MAY/JUNE 202
Page 9 and 10: DRIVING BRIGHTER BUSINESS FUTURES G
Page 13 and 14: Are you hiding behind technology? I
Page 15 and 16: “Realising the dream of owning a
Page 17 and 18: Hamilton Eye Clinic is Waikato’s
Page 19 and 20: Choosing the ideal retirement villa
Page 25: Tea for Harmony - International Tea
Page 29 and 30: The top 5 reasons employees are qui

Waikato Business News May/June 2023

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?