Napier council can save Hawke’s Bay Tourism after other councils agree to back it with grants

Tourism brings in $774 million in visitor expenditure into Hawke’s Bay and employed more than 5000 people in 2023. Photo / NZME

Napier City Council has the opportunity to save Hawke’s Bay Tourism after Hastings District Council and Central Hawke’s Bay District Council voted to back it with operational grants of $462,500 and $75,000 respectively.

The funding is dependent on Napier City Council agreeing to contribute $462,500 at a council meeting next week, which Hawke’s Bay Tourism says will enable it to meet its minimum budget requirement to continue operating, of $1 million per annum.

Both Hastings and CHB councils at a meeting on Thursday voiced their disappointment and frustration at Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC), which announced late last year that it would be pulling its funding for the tourism organisation from June 2025.

Part of Hastings’ grant would come from funding redirected from its now-paused Clifton to Tangoio Coastal Hazard Strategy and money set aside for the district’s cycle network.

Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst and chief executive To’osavili Nigel Bickle told councillors the funding for Hawke’s Bay Tourism would not be passed on to ratepayers and would have to be found from operational costs.

Hazlehurst said she, Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise and CHB Mayor Alex Walker had met with tourism chief executives three times during the Christmas break to try to understand how they could carry on with the service that Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO) offers and how “we could give some sort of certainty and a way forward and how we would manage and look after the organisation as it works for our region as a whole”.

Hazlehurst said councillors should ask themselves a fundamental question.

“What does tourism mean to us, Heretaunga Hastings?”

Council papers say tourism brings $774 million in visitor expenditure into Hawke’s Bay and employed more than 5000 people in 2023.

“Securing short-term funding for HBT is critical to sustaining the region’s visitor economy and long-term growth potential,” she said.

Councillor Malcolm Dixon said the council needed to send a message to HBRC voicing its concern that HBRC no longer supported Hawke’s Bay Tourism.

The council agreed to write a letter on behalf of the council expressing its disappointment that they found themselves in this position.

Marcus Buddo was the only Hastings councillor who voted against the decision to grant the money.

CHB confirmed they would provide $75,000 in its annual plan 2025-26 for Hawke’s Bay Tourism activities, subject to due diligence from its chief executive.

Walker said she was frustrated at the role or lack of role and lack of leadership from HBRC on this issue.

She said it was important to her that they support Hawke’s Bay Tourism. “The way we work together as a region was increasingly important.”

Napier City Council will decide if it will contribute to the funding next week.

Wairoa District Council has already advised that because of its geographic isolation from the main Hawke’s Bay centres, and its financial constraints, it would not be participating with any funding to support Hawke’s Bay Tourism.

Hawke’s Bay Tourism needs a decision from the Hawke’s Bay councils in February to provide funding surety into the 2025/26 financial year.

Without it, the board of Hawke’s Bay Tourism will need to make “decisions around winding up the organisation to ensure they are not operating insolvently into the next financial year” when HBRC’s current funding ceases.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council chairwoman Hinewai Ormsby said when the decision was made to not fund Hawke’s Bay Tourism after June 2025 she understood the decision may be disappointing for some, “but we had to prioritise our core responsibilities and their impact on the economic wellbeing of our region”.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.