Waikato Business News | December 1, 2023

14 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS
DECEMBER 2023
TOURISM
Visitor experiences
boost tourism
By NICOLA GREENWELL
OUR ENVIRONMENT
Ambitious plans –
good and not so
By PHIL MACKAY
It’s an exciting time to be involved in
tourism in Hamilton and Waikato. After some
challenging years, our region has bounced
back strongly and there are some amazing new
tourism and hospitality experiences emerging.
Just last month Made - a food, retail and
creative precinct providing a colourful food
and beverage and shopping experience opened
in Hamilton East. This is a fantastic addition
to our city, which is well and truly coming
in to its own as a must-visit foodie New
Zealand destination with other new eateries
establishing themselves here as well over the
last 12 months.
There’s also much to be excited about for
arts and culture lovers too, with construction
of the $80m Waikato Regional Theatre
continuing on Victoria Street.
Pleasingly, we’ve also seen new
accommodation popping up to support
the growing number of people visiting the
Waikato for leisure or business events. These
include the boutique Te Karaka Lodge in north
Waikato, and the impressive Clements Hotel
in Cambridge.
Quality properties like these provide
additional capacity throughout the region,
helping to spread the load and alleviate some
of the shortage of approximately 160 hotel
rooms and serviced apartments identified in
a hotel report published by Hamilton City
Council at the end of last year.
Many people come to the Waikato for our
open spaces and nature experiences, and
there’s been a lot going on in this area over the
past 12 months.
Hamilton’s Te Kāroro Nature Precinct
launched in April, providing a conservationthemed
visitor destination that combines
BUSINESS
Small businesses
challenged
By BRIDGET SNELLING
As many Kiwi households tighten their
purse strings to combat inflation and
the rising cost of living, it’s clear small
businesses across the Waikato have been
feeling the effects.
Xero’s latest Small Business Index has
painted a picture of how small businesses
in the region are faring, with the results
reflecting the challenging ongoing economic
climate for communities across the country.
Sales growth for small businesses in
the Waikato usually tracks closely with
the national results, however there was a
surprising contrast in September. Small
business sales growth in the Waikato fell
8.1 per cent year-on-year - which was much
softer than the national average of a 1.5 per
cent decline.
For sales growth in the September quarter,
Waikato was the second weakest region in
the country, experiencing a 2.3 per cent
drop, followed only by Taranaki (-3.9 per
cent).
Sales are inconsistent across the country,
with some regions facing more challenging
times than others.
Across Aotearoa New Zealand, it’s
clear Kiwi households are reducing their
discretionary spending, which has a flow on
effect to spending with small businesses in
their community.
Despite the weak sales, small businesses
across the Waikato remain eager to hire
talent, with the region experiencing 5.3 per
cent jobs growth in September.
These figures are impressive and
consistent across the country as small
Hamilton Zoo, Waiwhakareke Natural
Heritage Park, Hamilton Observatory and
Everyday Eatery. This new precinct adds
further to our region’s outdoor and nature
credentials.
The 13-year project to create the 65km Te
Awa River Ride finished at the end of last year,
and now provides a continuous cycleway from
Ngaruawahia to Karāpiro.
New cultural experiences have launched
including Rangiriri Pā tours and Te Puna Wai
Tours in Ngāruawāhia.
With domestic visitors spending $1,491
million in the region for the year to October,
the fourth highest in the country, and
international visitors spending $393m, the
fifth highest in the country, it’s clear to see why
there is interest in capitalising on the bright
future of tourism in the region.
And we need to keep fostering this interest
as there are gaps to fill in our regional visitor
offering such as accommodation in Hamilton’s
CBD and experiences around and on the
Waikato River. Tourism is the shop window
for economic development.
Part of our role is to seek out and encourage
new tourism related investment and support
new operators when they are entering the
sector, offering industry insights, statistics and
advice. We have been working with several
parties, large and small, keen to invest in
experiences and accommodation in various
parts of the region.
The new developments and strong interest
in our region bode well for the future, as does
our industry’s increasing focus on ensuring
the return of visitors benefits our region
environmentally, socially and culturally, as
well as financially.
businesses continue to compete with large
businesses for talent.
However, if sales continue to trend
downwards, this fast pace jobs growth could
be difficult for small businesses to maintain.
Wages for Waikato small businesses rose
3.6 per cent year on year to September,
which was broadly in line with the national
average. For the September quarter, wages
averaged 3.6 per cent growth for Waikato
small businesses, which was the third
largest rise of all regions. Wage growth still
remains below inflation and this puts small
businesses in a vulnerable position as real
wages are falling, meaning small businesses
could remain under pressure.
Waikato small businesses were paid on
average 5.9 days late in September, closely
in line with the national average of six days.
Thousands of Kiwi small businesses fold
each year. More often than not, it’s because
they’re unable to overcome cash flow issues.
The drop in small business sales
is a concerning factor that shouldn’t be
overlooked.
It is clear the road ahead remains
challenging for our small businesses as
inflation, interest rates and the cost of living
stay top of mind.
That’s why it’s crucial to keep supporting
them wherever possible and shop local when
we can.
We also encourage small businesses from
around Waikato to look into the digital
tools available, which have been carefully
designed to help cash flow and improve
productivity.
We (finally) have a new government, and
with an ambitious programme of work they
have quite a number of policies that are likely
to affect the housing market, construction
industry and the built environment.
Firstly, there are several noteworthy
policies relating to property investment.
• The reintroduction of mortgage interest
deductability.
• Landlords to be able to give 90 days notice
of eviction, without stating a cause.
• Likely reduction of the brightline test from
10 years to two years.
These each make property investment
more attractive and are likely to result in
more investors entering or staying in the
market. This in turn is likely to give more
momentum to property prices, which are
already on the way up again.
In a nutshell – good news if you own
property, great news if you’re a landlord, not
so great if you’re a first home buyer.
On the flip side, the coalition’s 100 day
plan says they will “Begin work to enable
more houses to be built, by implementing the
Going for Housing Growth policy and making
the Medium Density Residential Standards
optional for councils.” In theory this policy
could help to moderate housing prices,
though probably in the medium, rather than
short term.
One of the key components of the Going for
Housing Growth policy is “unlocking land for
housing.” Councils in major towns and cities
will be required to zone land for 30 years’
TECH TALK
How to avoid being
captured
By RICHARD RAYNER
In the modern workplace, technology has
become an indispensable tool, seamlessly
integrated into our daily routines. Like the
captivating Venus fly trap, it beckons us with
its allure, promising increased productivity,
and efficiency.
Yet, just as the unsuspecting insect falls
prey to the plant’s enticing nectar, we too risk
becoming ensnared in the digital web, our
attention consumed by the incessant demands
of technology.
This pervasive presence of technology
in our workplaces can transform us into
automatons, our eyes glued to screens, our
minds preoccupied with endless streams of
emails, notifications, and virtual meetings.
This relentless digital onslaught disrupts our
focus, diminishes our creativity, and erodes our
human connection.
Like the Venus fly trap’s digestive enzymes,
technology can gradually consume our
vitality, leaving us drained and disengaged,
or as someone more articulate once said,
‘comfortably numb.’ As organisational
leaders, we must recognise this and
proactively work to ensure our teams stay
free from its clutches.
By reclaiming control over our digital
engagement, we can emerge from the
technological mire, revitalised, and empowered.
Just as the Venus fly trap releases its prey
after digestion, we too can release ourselves
from the clutches of technology, rediscovering
our human potential and fostering a more
harmonious workplace environment.
We can do this by cultivating a culture fixated
on outcomes rather than checkboxes. Here is
how:
Focus on outcomes, not tasks
Encourage your team to view their work
worth of housing demand immediately.
Along with some new tools for infrastructure
funding, this has potential to increase the
supply, and decrease or at least control the
cost of new housing in the medium term.
Depending on your views on suburban
sprawl and the use of productive land for
housing, this may or may not be a positive
change. Probably great news if you work
in land development or civil construction
though.
Finally, the coalition parties have talked
quite a bit about improving housing
affordability by reducing red tape.
The coalition has said that they will repeal
the Natural and Built Environment Act
2023 and the Spatial Planning Act 2023,
and replace the Resource Management Act
1991 with new resource management laws
premised on the enjoyment of property rights
as a guiding principle.
In theory this could also help to reduce
costs and make housing more affordable.
I’ll reserve judgement for now, governments
have been talking about reforming the RMA
for quite some time, but the devil’s in the
detail.
Between these and other proposed policies,
the current economic environment, and
interest rates, no one can predict with any
accuracy what the impact will be on our
housing and construction markets over the
next year or two. I’m sure the Reserve Bank,
like many others, will be watching with great
interest.
through the lens of outcomes and achievements.
Rather than asking, “What are you doing this
week?” ask. “What does success look like for
you this week?” It is about moving from a taskoriented
mindset to a results-oriented one.
Share the vision - people want to be part of
a purpose that they belong to. So, ensure that
every member of your team understands the
big picture, the strategy, and the current focus
of the business. This should not be a one-off.
Get learning - provide opportunities for your
staff to upskill, especially in areas that enhance
their ability to achieve and measure outcomes.
Encourage a culture where knowledge sharing
is the norm.
Align Technology and Business KPIs -
Technology should serve the business, not
the other way around. Ensure that your Key
Performance Indicators for technology are
inextricably linked to your business KPIs.
Reward achievement, not compliance -
recognition should go beyond merely ticking
off tasks.
Be bold in your decisions -Sometimes,
progress requires tough choices. Be prepared
to ‘slaughter the sacred cow’ if necessary - be
willing to abandon practices and technologies
that no longer serve the company’s best
interests.
Trust your team - Have faith that your staff
will fulfil their responsibilities. This trust fosters
a sense of ownership and accountability.
Lead by example - embody the change you
want to see. Use technology as a tool to achieve
outcomes, not as an end in itself.
Let us not be slaves to the screen; let us be
masters of our digital domain, using technology
to propel our organisations to new heights.
Richard Rayner is an Associate of Waikato
software specialist Company-X.