Tātaki Auckland Unlimited plans to raise at least half a million dollars from local businesses. (picture file)
Photo: Supplied / ATEED
Covid-19 restrictions have eased and the border is open to tourists – it’s the summer Auckland has been waiting for, but there’s a big hole in the promotions budget.
Auckland council’s economic development agency, Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, is nearly $20 million short and is asking local businesses to contribute to a marketing fund.
The agency plans to raise at least half a million dollars, but that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds of millions spent across Tasmania.
Bookings were starting to arrive for Waiheke Island’s EcoZip Adventures, but managing director Gavin Oliver did not expect a return to pre-Covid-19 levels any time soon.
The time had come to promote the city and the shortfall was a blow, Oliver said.
“It’s really worrying, visitors have a choice of where they go. We have Australian states spending hundreds of millions of dollars on top of their existing budgets to market to the same people Auckland has to market to. .”
Oliver was among the business owners invited to contribute to Tātaki Auckland Unlimited’s plan to market the city as a summer destination in the rest of the country and in major overseas markets.
Even though his own business was still recovering, he was keen to get on board.
“We haven’t had a chance to rebuild our balance sheet yet, so we have an agreement to pay that off in the longer term. So we’ll start drip money into it.”
But he understood that not all companies would be able to contribute.
“I’ve spoken to a number of business owners. Some see it like me, as an investment, and they’ll find a way to do it, others are struggling and haven’t seen any real benefit yet. of a return to international connectivity.”
International tourism contributed nearly $5 billion to Auckland’s economy in 2019. (File image)
Photo: RNZ / Liu Chen
Tātaki Auckland Unlimited’s director of investment and industry, Pam Ford, said the agency lost $14 million when the hotel bed tax was suspended due to the pandemic – it was now challenged in court.
They needed additional funding of at least $19 million each year to continue promoting Auckland and attracting major events, Ford said.
“We think this kind of funding would at least put us back on track to bring in a lot of money that we haven’t seen in two years into the Auckland economy,” she said.
“If we are unable to continue to attract people and visitors, we simply will not open these attractions.”
It was urgent, she said.
“It’s really important to invest and now is the time to invest. People are starting to come back, people are making decisions all over the world where they want to visit, where they haven’t been. It’s a moment important.”
Auckland was competing with Australia for the tourist dollar and across Tasmania eye-watering sums were being spent on marketing, she said.
New South Wales has $150 million to support the resumption of major events, $25 million for regional events, $10 million for a stimulus marketing campaign and $250 million for vouchers. accommodation.
“Australian states have invested money in the visitor economy, whether it’s attracting events, subsidizing trade events or promoting tourism,” Ford said.
“They recognize that boosting the visitor economy is the way to help Covid recovery, so we are competing with quite a heavy and significant marketing activity in Australia.”
Auckland’s CBD was mostly empty during last year’s lockdown in August.
Photo: RNZ / John Eden
Auckland’s economy has been hit hard by five lockdowns and the closure of the country’s borders.
International tourism contributed nearly $5 billion to Auckland’s economy in 2019, accounting for 55% of tourism spending in the region, compared to 36% in the rest of New Zealand.
A long-term solution to the city’s lack of marketing funding was to introduce a broader business tax – not just a bed tax.
“The industry realizes that we all need to work together and have a partnership model to support the return of tourism,” Ford said.
“Longer term, we’re looking at what other cities are doing in terms of targeted rates in the broader sector, not just hotels, what kind of levies or bed taxes other places are implementing.”
Auckland restaurateur Krishna Botica is director of the Comensa Group, which owns three restaurants.
Krishna Botica, restaurateur from Auckland.
Photo: RNZ/Cole Eastham Farrelly
“Many restaurants, at least in the CBD area of Auckland, are closing and that’s due to understaffing and illness. I think anything in the next 12 months would be hard to ask.”
Some restaurants would continue to close from time to time during the summer to deal with the slow return of tourists and staff shortages, Botica said.
“How long are we closing, how viable is our business over that time and certainly with us not seeing a huge amount of tourist activity, it’s a big question mark as to how we we’re going to face the summer period.”