Whanganui mayor Hamish McDouall talks to visitors to the Auckland Better Home and Living Show.
Whanganui mayor Hamish McDouall talks to visitors to the Auckland Better Home and Living Show.
Whanganui's house prices and pace of life caught the interest of people attending an Auckland home show - and having our mayor show up didn't hurt either.
The Auckland Better Home and Living Show was held at the North Shore Events Centre on October 26-28 and, for the second year, economic development agency Whanganui & Partners had a stand at the show.
Both times it has been the only stand providing information about a region as a place to live or visit, Whanganui & Partners digital and online lead Paul Kjoss said.
"It's not the normal sort of show we do but we went last year and people were really interested in the regions," Kjoss said.
"We're there with people selling things like heat pumps and brooms. It was a really rewarding and worthwhile show for us."
Mayor Hamish McDouall joined Kjoss and Visitor Centre consultant Saskia Bloot on the stand for one day, which Kjoss said was a crowd pleaser.
"He really is an enthusiastic proponent for Whanganui and people love to see a mayor there," Kjoss said.
"At first people didn't believe he was really the mayor. We had to show them his photo in the Celebrating Whanganui publication. He engaged with everyone and people were having their photos taken with him."
More than 8000 people attended the show, with the Whanganui team engaging with nearly 1000 people.
"By engaging, we mean actually talking to people about Whanganui, not just handing them a brochure," Kjoss said.
"The main things they asked about were house prices. Most people don't believe the house prices are as affordable as they are so it was good to have [Whanganui Chronicle] Property Guides to show them. Lots of people said they were taking them to show friends or family members thinking of moving to the regions.
"Then they asked about employment opportunities which was different from last year. People seemed quite serious about making the move. Just about everyone you talk to in Auckland has a desire to leave the rat race.
"People also asked about the weather and schools and education. My sense is that people are very seriously looking to move to the regions."
Paul Kjoss (left) and Mayor Hamish McDouall (right) at the show.
There was also good interest in Whanganui as a visitor destination "as there always is", Kjoss said.
"There was high awareness of Whanganui as a place. We also showed and talked about Whanganui's proximity and ease to get to other places and talked about how much people can pack into a day because there's not the traffic there is in Auckland.
"There was a diverse range of people at the show, you heard lots of different accents, and we were able to talk about the great cultural diversity in Whanganui."
