It is time for Waitaki residents to have their say.
The district’s destination management plan will go out for consultation this month, following a planning workshop last week.
Tourism Waitaki general manager Margaret Munro said consultation was expected to take about three months, and it was important there was a range of voices heard.
"The bulk thing now is we’ve got a governance group and a working group [for the plan].
"The essence is now going out to the community ... and asking the similar questions of different community regions within the district, and then interest groups within the district so we’re getting a broad voice coming back," Mrs Munro said.
The Government funded New Zealand’s regional tourism organisations to create strategies and plans, and Waitaki’s strategy would be completed by the end of the year.
Last week’s workshop had helped both groups to work through the plan’s 16 criteria, and there were discussions about the outcomes and barriers regarding the growing visitor economy.
"It was a good workshop," Mrs Munro said.
"We’ve got a broad range of views and observations and that’s good — that’s what it’s all about."
It reviewed the plan’s purpose and looked at recent national initiatives involving environment protection and sustainability in New Zealand tourism sector.
The destination management plan would work alongside the district spatial plan, long-term plan and the Mackenzie district destination management plan.
"There’s quite a lot of alignment with some of those plans, and there’s also other documents in the community where consultation has occurred and we’ll be looking to see what other documents are out there that fit alongside, or should be incorporated within this plan."
