PRESS RELEASE

The year in review: Destination Hauraki Coromandel outlines challenges and opportunities facing tourism in the region

At the recent AGM of the Regional Tourism Organisation for Hauraki and Thames-Coromandel Districts the focus was very much on the challenges exposed by the severe weather events in early 2023, and the imperative to seize opportunities to build back better.

The financial year started well with the team writing the region's Destination Management Plan (DMP), successfully completing several regional capability-building projects funded by the Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment under the Tourism Communities: Support, Recovery and Re-Set Plan, and an industry sustainability initiative fully subscribed. Funding from MBIE allowed a full upgrade of the official regional visitor website www.thecoromandel.com and a third "Where Kiwis Holiday" summer campaign, which was tracking well. 

Read the full Annual Report.

The storms in early 2023 and ongoing bad weather and road closures left Hauraki Coromandel communities in a demoralising situation.  The February storm damage to the world-renowned Cathedral Cove was one of several closures of major attractions and roads, a situation compounded by the stand down of Fuller’s ferry service from Auckland to Coromandel Harbour last summer. This had an immediate and devastating impact on many businesses and jobs. Destination Hauraki Coromandel ceased campaign marketing and adapted the work schedule in response to cascading events, following a simple recovery plan based on business resilience, regional promotion and transport linkages.

Region-wide visitor revenue for the first six months of 2023 was down 40% (-$90 million) with many east coast Coromandel business losses significantly greater. Recent announcements that both the Cathedral Cove walkways and Fullers Coromandel ferry service will not be in operation over the coming summer season raise real concerns that Hauraki Coromandel will continue to lag into 2024/25 as the rest of New Zealand continues to recover.

These events have exposed fundamental challenges for a region that depends  heavily on tourism. The short term tactic is to stimulate enough visitation to limit ongoing revenue gaps, particularly while SH25A is closed. To this end, government disaster recovery funding has been received through Thames-Coromandel District Council and supported by Hauraki District Council for a full summer campaign beginning Labour Weekend.

There is a silver lining to all this for the tourism sector and the region.   Communities, mana whenua and key regional and government partners have the opportunity to come together under a destination management plan to do things we didn't think were possible before. A significant investment of time and resources in tourism assets is required, and in the past, Hauraki Coromandel has fallen into funding gaps for tourism support that favoured other regions and businesses of scale with shovel-ready projects.

Cathedral Cove has played an important part in New Zealand tourism, attracting international visitors to the region. The cove  was rarely mentioned last year during community workshops for destination management planning, but now has a high priority project status in the living DMP.  Building a new visitor experience at Cathedral Cove is arguably a prime candidate for central government funding under mechanisms such as the International Visitor Levy. Together, businesses, communities and key local partners must adopt the DMP guiding stars and rapidly complete due diligence and business cases for projects to gain necessary support from external funders.

As part of Regional Tourism New Zealand, Destination Hauraki Coromandel continues to advocate strongly for a new funding model for regional tourism organisations and the implementation of destination management plans, with less reliance on local councils to fund the investment required.

Hauraki Coromandel is ideally positioned to progress the community's ambition for tourism to deliver a net positive future – where tourism gives more than it takes. However we cannot achieve material progress in isolation. Working together we can seize the opportunity to make good out of a disastrous year.

More information on support required and the transformation that can be achieved.

Hadley Dryden, General Manager
Destination Hauraki Coromandel
Hadley@thecoromandel.com
021 227 4387