Great South launched The Murihiku Southland Destination Strategy 2023-2029 this week at Transport World in Invercargill.
It included key insights and potential opportunities for the region including an aquaculture precinct in Bluff, a new museum for Southland and establishing the region as a dark-sky and cycling destination.
Great South destination development manager Amie Young said the idea of this strategy was to ensure foundations were laid for a more sustainable and regenerative visitor economy.
The Beyond 2025 Southland Regional Long-Term Plan identified tourism as a key opportunity for the region’s growth economy, she said.
Pre-Covid, tourism was the fourth-highest earner for Southland bringing $692 million in to the region.
"It is a really crucial step in our reimagining of tourism. It’s a plan for all Southlanders.
"We’re looking at a much more holistic approach than purely marketing ... and looking at developing the industry so that [it can] contribute to the economic, social, cultural, and environmental wellbeing of our people and our place."
She said the plan was heavily influenced by the community as surveys conducted across the region showed 85% wanted to see a growth in tourism.
Mrs Young said the plan was divided into key areas — environmental stewardship, leadership and capability development, access and infrastructure, experience and product development.
It included 63 projects, with 24 priorities and it recommends project enablers, including the need to establish a tourism leadership group.
While areas which were already quite popular would continue to be an important part of the region, they wanted to diversify the opportunities and bring tourists to other parts of Southland as well, she said.
"What we want to really achieve with this plan is obviously to really disperse the benefits of tourism around the region and alleviate some of the pressure that might be felt at times in most places.
"We want more of our communities to benefit from tourism, so we’ll be looking at ways to help spread that around with new product development in different locations and really building a story for all parts of Southland."
