Epic plans to boost tourism industry

File photo

A 3D virtual reality experience that would give visitors to Gisborne “an epic ocean voyage” in a giant waka simulator is being proposed as part of a series of ambitious plans to help boost the region’s tourism industry.

Speaking on the final day of the Activate Tairawhiti Tourism Conference, marketing consultant Roger MacDonnell — the lead researcher behind the new Tairawhiti-Gisborne regional marketing campaign — said while the campaign was very much a “work in progress”, there were a range of plans for this year and 2018. There were also a series of possible future “concepts”, including the waka hourua simulator, that would be considered.

“An interesting proposal, intended as an addition to the Navigations Project, is talking about a major customer experience piece which starts with people being welcomed to the Tairawhiti Navigations Experience and i-Site.

“The customer then purchases a ticket to experience the Navigations. They go into a large space where they are met by their guide . . . mist fills the room and the walls start to darken. The guide starts to explain ‘we are about to go on an epic ocean voyage’. Then a very large waka rises from the floor and guests take a seat.

“The room fills with mist and sounds of the ocean and the whole room becomes a simulator — 3D screens around the room give people the feeling they are totally alone in the middle of the great ocean. The seas to and fro and finally they reach calmer waters. The guide explains Maori navigational methods and then the room darkens completely and the guide explains the importance of the star system in navigating. Then the first light emerges — it’s Tairawhiti-Gisborne.”

The lights then come on and the visitors view a fly-through of the people and the land. Mr MacDonnell said the proposal was still in its concept phase but there was a “high level of interest” in it from stakeholders.

“The next step is to take that concept to its next stage — to make sure its robust and something we can actually do.”

Another potential paid customer experience could happen around proposed improvements to the Cook Observatory on Kaiti Hill.

“We’re looking at a Tairawhiti night sky experience, which is getting a telescope to stream live to screens in the observatory and maybe on to a laptop or phone.”

That would provide a virtual experience that would give visitors the feeling of floating among the stars. Both proposals were “very ambitious” and neither was market-ready yet, but Mr MacDonnell pointed out that the regional marketing strategy would ensure any proposals were robust and could attract customers.

Just a year after helping to establish the Gisborne-Tairawhiti The First Light campaign, he said good progress had been made in marketing the region. It was fantastic that the merger of Activate Tairawhiti and Eastland Community Trust had been completed, while the newly-amalgamated regional tourism organisation’s move to employ a general manager of tourism should be seen as a “huge move forward”.

A new website had also been created using “first-class” talent from the region.

“It was always our intention to get the work done by people in the region. For the first time we have a market-tested positioning for the region based around The First Light brand.

“Initial research we did was pretty negative, showing a complete lack of awareness and understanding of Gisborne. We needed something we could hang our hat on, something that could tie everything together and something that could be exclusively yours.”

The brand also needed to provide a sense of uniqueness and this positioning within the market was “pure gold’ for the region’s tourism operators.

“There is a huge prize ahead of us at the moment. The visitor spend (nationwide) is forecast to increase to $15 billion by 2023 — a 52 percent increase. That only applies to overseas visitors. If we include domestic visitors as well, we are talking about $41 billion.

“We see very little of that money, which is a shame. It’s going to be the biggest industry in New Zealand and if we want a piece of that we need to provide a compelling offer.”

Cultural and Maori tourism would be a “big” part of that offering, he said. Market research company TRA had also been engaged to provide details on how concepts would be received and the demand for them.