Taupo District Visitor Forum

Many of the district’s visitor industry businesses have indicated they will be attending the Taupo District Visitor Industry Forum being held this Friday at the Great Lake Centre.

 

Deputy Mayor Christine McElwee, the Forum Convenor, said she was delighted with the positive feedback she had been receiving from all sectors of the local business community in support of Friday’s Forum.

 

“There is a lot of backing for getting all the interested parties together to address the current issues,” she said.

 

“My phone and email have been overloaded with messages from amazingly passionate people wanting to offer support, suggest improvements or contribute excellent ideas about the district’s economic future.”

 

“I was a former Tourism and Marketing Consultant from the mid 1980s until the late 1990s and I can remember only one other time when the local visitor industry was so determined to make a difference. That was after the 1987 Sharemarket Crash and the crippling recession that followed.”

 

“At that time, some movers and shakers called the ‘Ginger Group’ got cracking and its advocacy led to Council’s Marketing Division - now called Destination Lake Taupo – being set up.”

 

Councillor McElwee said that 20 years or so later, she believed the Council-funded Marketing Division, supported by a multi-skilled, talented Tourism Advisory Board working alongside the new economic development unit, “Enterprise Lake Taupo”, arguably remained as good a structural set-up as those which operated in the other key New Zealand visitor industry areas.

 

“Many people - in both the public and private sectors - have worked long and hard to create the foundations of our district visitor industry,” she said.

“It’s really exciting that the next generation is now stepping up to provide some energetic new leadership and some revitalised marketing ideas.”

 

A diverse range of recreation and activities operators, accommodation providers, hospitality services, retailers, arts/heritage/cultural attractions and service providers to the visitor industry will be meeting to discuss their future from 1pm to 3pm this Friday at the Great Lake Centre.

 

The theme of the Forum is ‘Creating Our Future – Think 6’.

 

Anyone with an involvement in any business sector which relies on the visitor industry, and with an interest in the economic and social wellbeing of the district, is encouraged to attend the Forum.

 

“All I ask is that everyone comes along with an open mind, ready to share any innovative ideas they have for taking our district forward over the coming months and years,” said Councillor McElwee.