Taupō destination plan Te Ihirangi highlights the need for major improvements to facilitate tourism and everyday living. Photo / Merv Richdale
Taupō destination plan Te Ihirangi highlights the need for major improvements to facilitate tourism and everyday living. Photo / Merv Richdale
A new destination management plan for Taupō seeks to change the thinking on tourism, away from pure economics.
Included in Te Ihirangi, the Taupō Regional Destination Management Plan, are ambitious plans to revisit the idea for a cultural and heritage precinct, including a museum and an upgrade of the Great Lake Centre.
It also highlights a number of problems holding back Taupō as a destination to visit and live in, including a lack of housing, a shortage of staff, inadequate tertiary support and under-resourced police and ambulance services during peak visitor times.
Another key issue was the need for a State Highway 1 bypass away from the south-eastern part of the lake, to avoid troublespots like Bulli Pt.
The need for a large 4-5 Star hotel was also raised.
Some of the issues raised in the plan have been worked on before. Early planning work for a cultural precinct was done in 2018 as part of plans for a new council administration building but was later rejected by the council of the day because of public feedback over costs and loss of green space.
Plans for a 135-room, 4-5 star hotel on the former council administration building site at 72 Lake Terrace are also in the pipeline after the council sold the site to developers for an undisclosed sum.
Resource consent has recently been granted for a three-storey hotel and restaurant on the empty lot bordered by Lake Terrace, Roberts St and Ruapehu St with plans showing 94 rooms. Consent was also granted three years ago for a six-storey hotel on Tūwharetoa St.
Resource consent has been granted for a three-storey hotel and restaurant on the empty lot bordered by Lake Terrace, Roberts St and Ruapehu St with plans showing 94 rooms. Photo / Taupō Disrtict Council
The 23-page plan is a summary of two years’ work, which included more than 1200 conversations held with iwi, local community groups, business entities, central and local government agencies, students and tourism operators.
Councils were directed by the Government to come up with destination plans as part of plans for a tourism re-set during the period when the country’s borders were closed by Covid-19.
Ngā Pou e Toru, the foundation statement of Te Kotahitanga o Ngāti Tūwharetoa, has been embedded as the fundamental foundations for the plan, to grow the region in a way that reflects Ngāti Tūwharetoa tikanga and creates a ‘destination of excellence’ for residents, visitors, the environment, and the economy.
Destination Great Lake Taupō facilitated the plan and general manager Jane Wilson said the process also included close engagement with neighbouring Ruapehu District.
“This has very clearly uncovered what is important to our communities across the entire region and has helped shape the actions that are highlighted within the plan.
“Looking after the place we all love sits at the heart of Te Ihirangi. Protecting and nurturing our whenua is critical. Celebrating and enhancing the visibility of our cultural heritage more and ensuring the visitors we inspire to come here [and] treasure our region as much as we do are important priorities.”
She said Te Ihirangi was an opportunity to think and act in a way that will ensure tourism provides a net benefit to the region, not just economically but socially, culturally, and environmentally.
“However, managing our destination for the benefit of future generations is far bigger than tourism and we all have a part to play.”
Te Ihirangi focuses on supporting long-term regenerative change so that tourism enriches people, communities, and manuhiri (visitors) while strengthening the mauri of the land and water for generations to come.
Te Kotahitanga o Ngāti Tūwharetoa chairman Wiari Rauhina said Te Ihirangi was the culmination of a “tireless effort” by the leadership advisory group to present a framework and pathway for multi-facet, sustainable, taiao (natural resource) centric tourist development within the Ngāti Tūwharetoa rohe.
“Te Ihirangi has captured and reflects, not only the community voices of today, but equally importantly our community voices of the future.
“Sustainable development is the pathway for the voices of the future. Te Ihirangi provides that pathway that has been asked for. It is a truly exciting challenge for our rohe.”
Taupō District Mayor David Trewavas said tourism was a major contributor to the Taupō District economy and environment.
“Tourism helps make our district be the thriving place we all know and love. In saying that, it is also crucial that we look after this place we call home so that it can be enjoyed by all far into the future, in collaboration with our local stakeholders and iwi.
“This plan will help guide those involved in the Taupō District’s tourism industry and ensure we are all on the same page.”
The Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), as part of its Covid-19 response, directed every destination to create a Destination Management Plan in 2020.
“This approach recognises that we can no longer aspire to exponential and unregulated growth in visitor numbers, and that we now need to focus on providing quality, high value experiences that deliver regenerative benefits to our communities and to the environment.
“The definition of value within this context has expanded from solely the economic to also include social, environmental, and cultural value. In turn, as an industry, we want visitation to the region to be valued by the destination’s communities,” Te Ihirangi reads.
