Visitor centre numbers don't reflect tourism trends

Vicki Darling at the Balclutha i-Site. Photo: RICHARD DAVISON
Vicki Darling at the Balclutha i-Site. Photo: RICHARD DAVISON
Officials say a 40% drop in South Otago information centre visitors during the past five years should not cause undue concern to regional tourism operators.

The dramatic downturn (82,514 in 2014-15 to 49,319 in 2018-19) came to light in figures presented by Clutha District Council library-service centre manager Vicki Darling to the council's corporate services committee in Balclutha last week.

In counterpoint to plunging numbers at its information centres, tourism figures for the region were up, Mrs Darling said.

In information provided by economic development agency Clutha Development, the total annual tourism spend had grown 17% to $69 million during the past four years.

Guest nights over the same period had grown 21%, to 96,395, not including Airbnb accommodation.

Mrs Darling said the apparent anomaly in visitor centre numbers could have several causes, but parallel falls for centres nationwide would suggest a change in tourism culture was most likely.

"In general, the number of people using information centres throughout New Zealand has shown some decline as people take up self-service online options. Tourism NZ has also observed our strengthening Asian market lacks a tradition of information centres and, therefore, are not typically users when travelling."

The council, and bodies such as iSite NZ, were working to promote their centres in domestic and foreign markets, she said.

Clutha also offered several online options for visitors, which were "very active".

Mrs Darling pointed out that three of the region's five information centres (Balclutha, Tapanui and Owaka) also doubled as council service centres.

Service centre visitors and inquiries remained stable, meaning an equivalent of five full-time staff were still actively employed, despite the drop in visitor inquiries.

The remaining two information centres, Milton and Lawrence, were not council owned or staffed, although they received some council funding.

One of the five centres - Owaka - was bucking the visitor decline.

Centre visitors in the Catlins gateway town had increased 71% to 17,777 since 2014-15.

As a result, the council has indicated it may apply for iSite status and improve staffing for the centre, once Clutha Development completes its Destination Strategy for the region later this year.

Add a Comment