Enterprise Dunedin manager John Christie told the Dunedin City Council’s economic development committee this week government support received during the Covid-19 recovery such as the strategic tourism assets protection programme (Stapp) would in future come in "very different ways".
Rather than regional tourism organisations such as Enterprise Dunedin receiving funding, a nationally co-ordinated approach was planned, Mr Christie said.
"It won’t be driven through regional tourism organisations like ourselves. It will be a co-ordinated effort through national bodies.
"There will be some funding, but it won’t be anywhere near what we’ve seen through this Stapp funding round."
A request for proposals by Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) closed yesterday as the ministry said it was seeking to develop a two-year national destination management team.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the government provided regional tourism organisations with funding to develop destination management plans, the tender said.
With those plans now completed, the government was seeking to establish a centralised team "as part of the next step".
"The team will bring a national perspective to regional tourism issues; engage in the activity of destination management across all regions of Aotearoa New Zealand; and work to support other tourism activities carried out by regional tourism organisations, Māori regional tourism organisations, and other organisations that have a focus on regional tourism."
In the Enterprise Dunedin report to councillors this week, it was noted by June 30, $640,000 had been allocated to destination management and planning; industry capability and product development received $458,000, and destination marketing $602,000.
Ōtepoti Dunedin’s Destination Management Plan, adopted by the council at the end of June, was one of many projects highlighted in the report.
Deputy mayor Sophie Barker said the committee ought to thank the government for the $1.7m injection into Dunedin’s regional tourism organisation.
"It’s a very difficult process — government was kind of scrambling to support a tourism industry which had been completely devastated by the hit of Covid."
Government assistance for "some iconic attractions in the city" helped them to stave off bankruptcy, she said.
Cr Christine Garey said she wanted to acknowledge the breadth and depth of the work done with the funding, from work to update the Dunedin image library to a report providing a detailed understanding of trends in Dunedin’s arts and culture sector, including a focus on employment, gross domestic product, and businesses.
"It put some figures around it and it busted some myths and it was a particularly useful report," she said.
