Tourists visiting small Canterbury towns should have the ability to connect to free wi-fi hotspots to enhance their experience of the region.

That is one idea that has come out of a newly launched Canterbury Regional Economic Development Strategy, backed by the province’s mayors.

Tourism just one part of the strategy but its inclusion has been welcomed by regional tourism organisations (RTOs) including Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism.

The mayors are focusing on long term growth, particularly as Christchurch’s rebuild peaks and tapers off. They see the influence of water and drawing-in working migrant families as assets to the economy.

Kaikoura District Council mayor Winston Gray is leading a regional visitor strategy looking at ideas such as every town of significance in Canterbury being able to provide a wifi hotspot. “We’ve got the entry point out here at the airport … (but) it’s almost about leveraging off the regions to bring people back in, the Kaikouras, from Kaikoura to Mt Cook I guess.”

Spark spokeswoman for home, mobile & business Lucy Fullarton said the telecom company had looked to provide hotspots in Christchurch from the time of the Canterbury earthquakes of 2011.

Such hotspots, free to Spark mobile customers, had since been rolled out to about 1000 nationally. After a week’s free trial tourists would have to pay a monthly fee of $10 to access the spots from their mobile devices.

“We are always looking at how we can expand the wi-fi network and evolve the technology – including in Canterbury – but at this point are still working through what that might look like,” Fullarton said.

Asked if more money was needed to fund tourism marketing of the region, Gray said “always”.

Extra financial commitment was needed to better market Canterbury and the recovering earthquake city of Christchurch, tourism sector boss Caroline Blanchfield said.

Blanchfield, spokesperson for both Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism and its convention bureau, said the region’s visitor industry remains dependent on a further recovery in the city’s tourism infrastructure.

This included a needed rebound in accommodation supply, which was reduced in the 2011 quakes.

“That would be great to get more money, but there’s opportunity now to leverage … (with different regions) working together more.”

CCT would in the next couple of months put a “full service” second Christchurch i-Site visitor centre into the Cashel St retail area.

Gray said the township of Kaikoura had struggled after the global financial crisis and with the Canterbury earthquakes, but more recently tourist visitation and forward bookings had returned to 2008 levels. The township is known for its whale watching and hospitality venues.

A tourism forum including RTO representatives would now meet regularly to decide on the next steps forward, Gray said. Christchurch Airport provided the main entry point for South Island visitors, but Canterbury “from Kaikoura to Mt Cook” needed to further bring back visitor numbers that had dipped after the earthquakes.

CCT’s Blanchfield said it was important that the mayors of the regions recognised that tourism was a key driver within the overall economy.

This week she had been hosting Australian and Kiwi convention event organisers with the aim of driving back conventions and business tourism into the region.

Blanchfield like others has been awaiting a start to a $500m convention centre precinct promised by the Goverment for the centre of Christchurch. “We need more (convention space), we need hotels with conference rooms to be built … the demand is enormous.”

CCT’s Hunter said international guests visiting Canterbury would enjoy free internet hotspots and “warm” Cantabrian welcomes. But there was also a real focus, under the mayoral led forum, on attracting more Kiwis to travel domestically.

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/71604428/tourism-core-part-of-canterbury-economic-strategy