Media Release

28 March 2014

National framework supports tourism focus for Whangarei

Whangarei District Council (WDC) and the Whangarei Visitor Group (WVG) are ready to play their part in building the $41bn tourism market in New Zealand by 2025.

The Tourism Industry Association New Zealand recently released its 'Tourism 2025' plan which sets out a framework that will guide tourism development in New Zealand over the next decade.

Employing over 172,000 people, tourism currently contributes $24 billion to the NZ economy and accounts for 3.7% of its GDP.

"We have already recognised the importance of tourism for Whangarei, but this national level framework helps to give greater focus on tourism not only nationally but also within the District," says WDC District Promotions and Tourism Manager Paul Davis.

"Tourism is one of our major industries and Council has committed greater resources to developing tourism and working with the industry here through the Whangarei Visitor Group.

"We aim to boost tourism activity and performance in the District, particularly targeting the domestic market.

"The next steps for us are to align the interim Whangarei Visitor Plan, developed by WVG and the industry last year, with the 2025 Framework.

"This will give Whangarei an even greater synergy with tourism's national direction and addresses the five key themes within the Framework," said Mr Davis.

Kate Malcolm from the Whangarei Visitor Group said that the Tourism 2025 strategy has been developed with solid research and statistics, and provides a platform that enables our diverse tourism industry to work collaboratively together on common goals.

"It is a strong pat on the back for work that WDC and the WVG have been already doing in uniting our local visitor industry with the 2013-2016 Whangarei Visitor Plan, and reinforces the path we are on together is the right one.

"There are many ways we can work towards potential opportunities both individually and collectively and it [the framework] gives me immense confidence in our local Whangarei Visitor industry," she said.

The duo said the next Whangarei tourism industry meeting will be on 30 April and detailed work aligning local strategies with the Tourism 2025 Framework would begin.

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