Funding Tourism Promotion

Published HBT 27 Jan 1016  

The heading in HBT Tourism Big drain on Ratepayers  was somewhat misleading as the item was about  the funding of tourism promotion . This is the unedited version. 

We expect our councils to spend ratepayers’ money wisely.

In late 2014 Hastings District Councillors were asked by Tourism Hawke’s Bay to support its submission to the Regional Council requesting a $900 000 a year increase in funding. The request was made during an unexpected appearance by Tourism Chair, George Hickson and GM Annie Dundas. No information was supplied in advance, minimal details were provided on how the money would be spent and nothing useful was provided  to help councillors with any subsequent deliberations.  Plus there was no consultation between Hastings councillors and staff, despite an assurance from the Mayor on 18 Feb 2015 that the proposal would be subject to scrutiny.  

On 28th May 2015, councillors were surprised to learn staff had already made a supporting submission to the HBRC and were given the options of withdrawing the submission, making clear it was a staff, not councillor submission or accepting the submission without an in-depth examination. The last option was approved by 7 votes to 6 and effectively supported a $450 000 a year Regional Council rates increase for those in the Hastings District. This is equivalent to a 0.75% increase in Hastings rates. Subsequently the Regional Council decided to stage the increase over 3 years. 

The Regional council’s involvement goes back to 2004 when former Napier Mayor Barbara Arnott and current Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule seemed quite willing to hand over responsibility for the management of the regional development agency Vision 20/20 despite being at odds over the direction and worth of the organisation. 

However the Regional Council’s lack of involvement in tourism, plus an absence of staff or elected councillors with relevant expertise in the visitor industry soon showed up with increasing dissatisfaction from tourism providers. On taking over in September 2004, a new organisation Hawke’s Bay Inc was created with farmer and former Regional Council chairman Ross Bramwell at the helm. Disasters piled up. The first CEO  left after just 10 months in the job and the second lasted only a year. The organisation’s accounts were subsequently described as a “dogs breakfast”(HBT 27 April 2007).  In March 2008 a 3rd CEO took office, and  on 1 July 2009 the organisation was renamed Venture Hawke’s Bay. In May 2010 the 3rd CEO departed following revelation of a $250 000 unfunded expenditure blowout for the 2009/10 financial year. 

In 2014  the tourism and economic development functions of the Regional Council were split up again, leading to the creation of Tourism Hawke’s Bay which combined the ratepayer funded tourism operations of Venture Hawke’s Bay with the member funded Wine Country Tourism Association. Whilst Tourism Hawke’s Bay initially received both private and ratepayer funding private funding contributions now seems to have ceased. 

It is far from clear just how much impact Tourism Hawke’s Bay is having on our visitor industry. Both the Hastings and Napier councils have invested heavily in creating attractions including Splash Planet, the Regional Sports Park, the Museum, Aquarium, and Kennedy Park plus they fund and operate many non-commercial sporting and recreational facilities. In addition the two councils also engage in their own promotional and advertising activities.  

Napier is the driver of tourism in Hawke’s Bay, provides some 2/3rds of regional commercial accommodation and has a long history of successfully managing its tourism destiny. Whilst giving lip service to the co-operation between the City Council and Tourism Hawke’s Bay in reality the city seems to be forging ahead on its own. In the past year Napier has ramped up support for major spectator sports events including the Waikato Hawkes Bay Ranfurly Shield match, Melbourne Storm vs Dragons league match, All Blacks vs Argentina Rugby test and the recent Elite Road National Championships. 

There are also a great many non-council created events including Art Deco, Horse of the Year Show, the Mission and other concerts plus the Woman’s International Hockey Festival now in its 3rd year. 

Whilst Tourism Hawke’s Bay has bought us the  “Big Easy”  weekend with about 1500 cyclists and the high end food extravaganza “FAWC" with about 4000 ticket sales, these are actually small numbers. 

There seems to be a reluctance to challenge the role and performance of Tourism Hawke’s Bay but this hands off approach means that those who are actually providing the facilities and events have no say. Perhaps this is because Tourism Hawke’s Bay presentations are very slick and carefully stage-managed to prevent meaningful examination of the information provided. 

That tourism is a vital part of our economy is not in doubt but doubling the ratepayers’ contribution for visitor promotion and events creation to almost $2 million justifies a robust examination of the organisation, their performance, and plans. 

This whole saga shows contempt for those who have no say in whether they pay or not and Hastings councillors should have done more to protect their interests.