Part four of the Project Auckland series looks at 'Prosperity and Profile'
Expect the Super City to end Queens Wharf-style haggling and interminable debates over where an international cruise terminal and national convention centre will be built.
That's the confident prediction of Tourism Auckland chief executive Graeme Osborne whose team will soon be absorbed into the into the council-controlled Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development organisation (Teed).
Osborne, a former schoolteacher, has had the good fortune to lead one of the few region-wide entities outside the Auckland Regional Council, albeit funded by just three of the eight soon-to-be-axed local authorities.
"We have frankly been a regional entity all the time but because we were funded largely by the Auckland City Council, this allowed other councils not to fund us," he says. "The boundaries between councils in Auckland have no relevance to customers. The new Super City gives us a chance to get it right."
By strict industry terms, Auckland Tourism has not done badly but has had to deal with debilitating municipal factionalism and has never had the level of funding it wanted.
According to economic consultancy Covec, Auckland in 2009 was, by volume, New Zealand's most significant destination, attracting 34 per cent of international visitor nights and 37 per cent of spending, excluding international airfares. This is despite the fact that the numbers of overseas tourists has barely increased in the past four years (it was slightly down in 2009).
Auckland did less well in the domestic market, attracting just 13 per cent of domestic visitor nights and 21 per cent of spending, but these figures did not include destinations on Auckland's doorstep such as Northland, Coromandel and Waikato - once part of the huge Auckland province.
Aucklanders are also big spenders in their own right, accounting for about a third of spending in other regions and such things as domestic airfares and fuel. They spend $640 million in outbound travel alone.
By straight numbers, the biggest tourist spenders - domestic and international - come to Auckland to visit friends and relations. They account for nearly 42 per cent of visitor nights. Holidaymakers come a poor second at 28 per cent.
Tourism Auckland sees considerable potential for Auckland to perform better, although it is already a strong tourism performer.
"Tourism has the potential to generate around 50 per cent of Auckland's export growth over the next 10 years," the agency says in a strategy document.
"Tourism is Auckland's powerhouse industry. [It] can deliver $1.350 billion of the projected GDP growth target set by Competitive Auckland."
Osborne says that under Teed Auckland tourism will be geared to boosting export earnings and making Auckland a global city in tourism terms.
To do this it will need to be acknowledged as one of the world's great lifestyle destinations - what Tourism Auckland describes as a "vibrant and progressive city that connects New Zealand to the world".
The agency says Auckland must:
Value its rich and diverse culture and heritage;
Make the best of its temperate climate and superior coastal and island setting; and
Have a welcoming population that protects and enhances the environment.
Osborne says that although Tourism Auckland will disappear under the Super City, Brand Auckland will continue to prosper.
Tourism Auckland has 75 staff and receives $4.4 million a year in council funding.
Under Teed it will start on November 1 with 105 staff and $5.6 million in funding and 125 staff by July 1 next year.
Tourism Auckland would like to see funding rise to $18 million a year.
Osborne says growth in tourism has huge benefits for the region, not least in public transport needed to take tourists to areas within driving distance, like the Matakana Wine Trail.
"Transport [now] is a big negative for visitors to Auckland and it is a big negative for residents."
Osborne says Auckland is New Zealand's global-facing city.
"New Zealand's [tourism] performance is dependent on Auckland's performance but having said that we have got a job in hand to improve our connections with our regional brothers and sisters."
Economic consultancy Covec says the net $3.5 billion of spending by inbound tourists to Auckland in 2009 (including export education) generated $1.3 billion to GDP directly and more than $3 billion to GDP overall.
This resulted in nearly 21,000 fulltime-equivalent jobs directly and more than 48,000 indirectly.
Of the seven district councils in the region, Auckland city benefited most in tourism GDP and tourism job creation.
This is unlikely to change given that 70 per cent of tourist arrivals to New Zealand come through Auckland. Auckland also accounts for 38 per cent of conference delegate days, 56 per cent of fee-paying foreign students and more than half of Australian visitor nights.
The Rugby World Cup next year will only add to Auckland's tourist numbers.
It will be one of a number of major events Teed will be looking to lift the region's tourism performance.
"Major events are viewed as a key tool for delivering visitor nights and spend[ing], as a key channel for brand activity, and as a key agent of destination legacy," Tourism Auckland says.
"[We] will support event bidding undertaken by a major events unit and seek to generate visitor nights from major events by way of marketing partnerships with event owners and organisers."
Export education, conventions and domestic tourism are also part of the region's tourism growth strategy.
