Larnach Castle director Norcombe Barker criticised the way the city is marketed, particularly to domestic tourists, at the Dunedin City Council's annual plan hearing yesterday.
It is not the first time he has taken aim at the council for its handling of tourism.
Last year, Mr Barker criticised the performance of the council's in-house economic development and tourism unit Enterprise Dunedin, calling it an unmitigated disaster.
A subsequent review criticised its performance in the tourism sector, but stopped short of recommending a major overhaul.
In his submission, Mr Barker said the council was still failing to appropriately invest in tourism, particularly in marketing the city as a destination.
The budget for tourism marketing had been largely static and as a result Dunedin was spending a lot less on tourism-specific marketing than other destinations like Queenstown were, he said.
The tourism sector wanted a specific marketing plan which drove people to the city.
Dunedin was already underperforming, despite its stellar offerings, and many visitors choose to visit and leave on the same day, he said.
"I've thought long and hard about this and I would not mind having less tourists who stayed longer and spent more.''
At the minimum, the council needed to increase Enterprise Dunedin's budget so it could properly promote the city and attract more visitors, particularly in the off-season and winter months, he said.
There was eventually going to be a slowdown in the tourism industry nationally and if more money was not put into telling Dunedin's story, the city could lose millions of dollars, he said.
Council chief executive Dr Sue Bidrose told councillors Mr Barker had a point and the city was at lower end of tourism destinations when marketing itself.
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Focus on getting direct flights to/from Melbourne & Sydney with an Australian aIrline. Start with summers and advertise it as a quick way to 'cool down'. Negotiate discounts on landing charges, "Grab deals" with hotels etc. Air NZ does not care about regions- they are focusing on China & lost $100m since going there. Another budget increase paid by ratepayers is not the answer!
Mr. Barker may indeed have a point but how many tourists can the city handle without turning it into a 'Disneyland'? Tourists are great but not when they come in hordes.
Having been to some big tourist spots in the USA and Aussie, i can safely say we're not even remotely near tourist capacity even if they arrive in 'hordes'.
Agree Mehavenoname, I've visited around 100 cities around the world and Dunedin has jack compared. a MTB track up signal hill might attract a few, if it was a world class track and had a good amount of high spec MTB to hire it might work, A cable car ride up to Mornington, isn't really world class unless it has an awesome view Hong Kong comes to mind, I believe people like to shop, go to factory outlet malls, Markets Melbourne Victoria, Freemantle, Sydney Paddy markets, Bangkok markets. Visit old buildings, prisons, maybe a world class aquarium, a unique area such as yellow eyed penguin. A Marae visit would be awesome for some.
Dunedin lacks in various venues where discounts are offered. High end shops in Port Chalmers would be good The place lacks a decent mall, I know I hated shopping in Dunedin in the windy wet weather, I'd sooner go to a mall and stay warm and dry, shop and leave nice and dry, but I've been spoilt in my trips around the world. I know from years back having travelled the world been in some dangerous places visited various bars, My birth city has been the only place I got punched by an angry drunk crossing the road at a crossing and took acceptation.
But the Council will still do nothing. Dunedin is a retirement village, nothing more!
But Cull says the place is Buzzing, Always knew Cull was full of it. Barker needs to look in his own back yard (Larnach Castle) first. We moved to Dunedin 2015 and decided to visit Larnach Castle, it was 10 years since my wife and I had visited, so it was just a revisit. On arrival blow me down the cost, we signed up to the gardens only visit rather than the more expensive inside the castle visit. Friends (x 2) from Auckland later visited Dunedin so we decided to show them the sites of Dunedin one of which being Larnach Castle. It cost me and my wife nothing because we were friends of the castle, but they too there shocked at the prices so only visited the gardens. Since left Dunedin, The place is a rip of, locals should get a heavily discounted price like the theme parks in Aussie.
Friends of the Castle?
Uh huh. That's a Lanark Hassle.
Potocki d' Anti Nazi Resistance it was a few years ago and we visited twice in the year - it was the Garden Pass,
Our Garden Pass offers the opportunity of exploring the garden year round. Card holders receive unlimited entries to the Garden and Ballroom Café, plus a 10% discount off plants on the Ballroom plant stand. Valid for 12 months from date of purchase - enquire at reception on your visit. sill a rip off IMHO because you have to still pay a huge amount to get into the castle.
For starters, the DCC/ORC/ABC or whoever need to kick the airport CEO/board of directors or whatever in the pants, and get them to start seriously negotiating for some more international flights, from closer places than Brisbane like Sydney etc.
One international flight (destination) is actually kinda pathetic for an international airport (probably why they dropped 'international' from the name).
Then the council/s should help more with the Mornington cable car, and start looking at someones suggestion of a gondola from Logan Park area to Signal Hill. Complete with mountain bike holders so that you don't have to drive all the way up there.
Then they should maybe start looking for people who'd start up other tourism ventures, and help them out (consent/fees wise) a bit. Maybe some sort of indoor go karting building since there are none within two hours of this city.
Basically, see what other places do for tourism, and adapt/adopt them to Dunedin too. Some may be bigger drawcards than others for some people, but excitement wise Dunedin is actually quite bland/boring. When compared to Cromwell, Queenstown etc.
You have to spend money to make money.