We were delighted when Jean-Michel was asked onto the Steering Committee looking at the future of tourism for Auckland. Quite apart from the recognition this showed, it also allowed small innovative businesses a voice in this process. The process is well under way and the steering committee has had two good meetings. The ideas coming through from the sub-committees are hard-hitting and it looks like we are on the way to developing something useful. Something which will allow tourism to grow in Auckland. Something which will allow us to be proud of tourism in Auckland.
Our particular focus is on the small operators. We believe this is where innovation lies and we believe this is a sector which has been unimaginatively overlooked in the past. How to nurture innovative businesses which give clients what they want while ensuring a level playing field is a complex task.
The first obstacle in our way, though, is the current lack of support for this initiative from councils other than Auckland City. It can be seen from the map above that Auckland City is only a small part of the whole and it is not logical to expect them to pay for everything. Also it does not seem logical to have four or five different sub-groups all developing visions and expensive overseas marketing when we can all work together as a region. It is our belief that 90% (if not more) of all tourism operators in the Auckland region would prefer a single unified approach. To this end we would appreciate if tourism operators throughout the Auckland region who agree (or disagree) with us could send us a short note stating this. We will then accumulate these and use them to support the approach. Not all Auckland region operators are on our mailing list, so please feel free to pass this around.
Meanwhile if any small operators would like to talk to us about issues specific to them, we are available.
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