Waikato sees domestic visitors as key to combating Covid-19 tourism impact

The Hamilton Gardens is one of the top tourist destinations in the Waikato that attracts thousands of international visitors. Photo / File

With travel restrictions in place on travellers from China and Italy, and more on the way, boosting domestic tourism will be key as the Waikato deals with the impact of Covid-19 on the international tourist industry.

The Waikato is New Zealand's fourth largest destination for domestic tourism by expenditure, behind Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Speaking at Hamilton City Council's first Economic and Development Committee meeting, Hamilton and Waikato Tourism CEO Jason Dawson said that domestic tourism is a stronger market for the region than international tourism.

"With Waikato's international markets, Australia is number one for us as a region bringing in $87.5 million, number two is UK and Europe combined at $87.3 million, North America brings in around $60 million at number three and then there is China at number four," Mr Dawson said as part of his six-monthly update to the council.

"We did see impact immediately when the travel ban took hold, that was mainly for group travel out of China and future bookings over the coming months," he said.

Domestic is Waikato's number one market, bringing in 75 per cent of the region's total tourism income

"So, at the moment for us it is about stimulating demand domestically and having those tourist staying longer and spending more as the international market slows down."

The annual total visitor expenditure for the Waikato ending in November 2019 was $1.558 billion, with domestic visitors spending $1.197 billion.

Mr Dawson said Tourism New Zealand is releasing a refreshed global campaign based on the Covid-19 outbreak, bringing activities forward from 2022 to when they expect the travel bans to be lifted to stimulate tourism growth in the country.

"Domestic marketing is also being brought forward to stimulate demand into Waikato. We ran our first local week last year which was 14 days of deals where we expected retailers and operators to give us 50 per cent off on their tourism opportunities, so by offering them some deals it enabled families to have more accessibility to their local tourism opportunities.

"We will be looking to doing that again in our winter period to activate the market."

Councillor Maxine van Oosten asked — with Balloons over Waikato on the horizon — whether there were concerns in the Waikato over large gathering for events.

Mr Dawson said Waikato Tourism is making weekly reviews over events.

"All the right measures are in place for Balloons over Waikato with hygiene stations at the event," Mr Dawson said.

"For me, and for our operators, we still want to hold events because if we stop events then it shows we are closed for business."

Councillor Ewan Wilson asked if Waikato tourism would use the Hamilton to Auckland train service when it launches.

"For us, the rail will be offering an alternative way to come to the Waikato domestically," Mr Dawson said.

"It is about adding rail to all our domestic packages that will come out in the winter season."

Mr Dawson also informed council that Airbnbs are soaking up much of the accommodation demand in Hamilton when hotels are over capacity, but said there was strain in other parts of the Waikato.

"In Raglan where 50 per cent of the rentals are Airbnb it is causing a problem by displacing tourism industry workers," he said.