Download Hastings District Marketing, Visitor and Events Strategy

HastingsDistrict
Marketing,VisitorandEventsStrategy
March 2010 Part one of:
Economic Development Strategic Framework – Aspirations for our district
Hastings District
Marketing, Visitor and Events Strategy
Table of Contents
1.
Situation Analysis
3
2.
Marketing Strategy
5
3.
Visitor Strategy
10
4.
Events Strategy
13
5.
Capability, Implementation and Measurement
17
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HASTINGS DISTRICT
MARKETING, VISITOR AND EVENTS STRATEGY
SITUATION ANALYSIS
There has been an acknowledgement in recent times that there needs to be a more
effective strategy put in place for marketing Hastings. While the regional economic
development agency (now known as Venture Hawke’s Bay) has had responsibility
for tourism marketing for Hawke’s Bay, and the Hastings District Council has had
some focus on generic marketing for Hastings as well as a focus on marketing its
own facilities and attractions, this has not resulted in a strong place marketing
presence for Hastings. Hastings has not been marketed strongly either as a place to
visit, live or invest.
Some of issues identified in the current situation include:
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The lack of a strong positive identity for Hastings within the wider Hawke’s Bay
region
The lack of a strong identity for Hastings as a visitor destination
The lack of a strong identity for Hastings as a business investment location
The visitor industry overall failing to capture Hastings’ share of the regional
visitor spend
The lack of a clear strategy for marketing visitor attractions and maximising
community benefits from these
A lack of expression of civic pride in Hastings
It is clear that Hastings is not a primary New Zealand tourism destination, and is
unlikely to ever compete with places like Rotorua, Queenstown or even the Bay of
Islands as a tourism destination. However the Hawke’s Bay region (of which
Hastings is a major part) does have some attraction as a visitor destination,
particularly for domestic visitors and cruise ship passengers. While Napier has a
stronger brand as the region’s tourism centre, a large number of the region’s
tourism assets are located within the Hastings District.
Total visitors to Hawke’s Bay in 2008 were estimated at 2.3 million1. A brief
analysis of visitor statistics indicated that 75% of visitors to Hawke’s Bay are
domestic2. It also has an existing high level of visitors staying with family and
friends (42% of Hawke’s Bay visitors stay with family and friends3).
An analysis of Hastings features, strengths and attributes provides the following
list:
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Quality food and wine
Easy Living/great lifestyle
Great weather
Abundance and new growth
1
Ministry of Tourism Regional Forecast
Hawke’s Bay Inc, Guest Nights 2008
3
Hawke’s Bay Inc, Guest Nights 2008
2
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Equestrian excellence (including Horse of the Year)
The Spring Racing Carnival and the areas broader racing heritage
Vibrant Maori culture (e.g. Takitimu festival, Waimarama Maori tourism)
Adventure and leisure sports (e.g. cycling, Triple Peaks, golf, etc)
The rural experience/link to the land
Strong primary production and related manufacturing and servicing
Vibrant arts and culture
Engaging landscapes
Great beaches
A place of opportunity (e.g. local success stories, Flaxmere’s world
champions)
This demonstrates that a strong basis exists from which to market Hastings.
Hastings has a great many features and attractions likely to be of interest to
visitors. Hastings also has a number of events that attract visitors to the area and
there is scope for more events and better leverage from existing events. A number
of visitor attractors such as the bulk of the regions wineries are located in Hastings.
Potential exists for greater capitalisation on the stream of visitors already coming
to the region.
A review of the Hastings visitor and events sector and the Council’s role in it has
found a lack of strong working relationships across the sector. This is particularly
the case between Council services (such as the i-Site) and the visitor industry.
There also appears to be a lack of coordination and alignment between the efforts
of Venture Hawke’s Bay (which has a lead role in marketing Hawke’s Bay),
Hastings’ centred marketing efforts, and parts of the industry. It is important that
Council, along with other stakeholders across the broader visitor industry, helps to
ensure that Venture Hawke’s Bay delivers marketing activities that are useful for
the region in terms of increasing visitor numbers and spend, and attracting and
supporting business investment. It is also important that marketing activities
undertaken for Hastings capitalise on the regional marketing efforts.
Research work undertaken on the i-Site and the Hastings Visitor industry, indicates
that the visitor industry sector wants Council and specifically the i-Site to take a
strong coordinating and retail role that adds value to the sector. It also wants a
significantly higher level of interaction and performance than what it perceives
currently exists.
Council, based on feedback from its community over time, has decided that it does
have a role to play in marketing Hastings. It has decided that key focus areas for
marketing efforts need to include marketing Hastings to visitors, marketing
Hastings as a business investment location, and encouraging the development of
civic pride. Marketing of Hastings is assessed as contributing to economic and social
wellbeing through increasing income to the district from increased visitor spend,
and increasing business investment. Both of these things support the retention and
growth of employment. Marketing activities, if they are authentic to the Hastings
area, also help people celebrate and feel good about their lives and the place they
live. This helps develop civic pride and community spirit and activity.
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MARKETING STRATEGY
The purpose of this marketing strategy is to contribute to greater economic
prosperity and social well being in the Hastings District, through:
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Increased visitor numbers and spend
Growing civic pride and increase local participation
Increased business investment
An effective marketing strategy supported by strong branding is key to achieving
this. The following marketing aims are proposed:
1. Create a visible, resonant and positive brand for Hastings, which is
recognised locally and nationally.
2. Promote and support attractions, facilities, events and features of the
District.
3. Recognise and celebrate the successes of the District.
4. Develop an attractive business proposition to attract and encourage business
investment in the District.
The strategy to achieve this is:
1. Develop a brand that reflects the strengths and aspirations of Hastings.
2. Use events to market Hastings and attract visitors, and create the capability
to leverage off, improve and grow events.
3. Focus on innovative and niche-focused marketing channels to target specific
audiences/visitors.
4. Find and tell ‘stories’ that reflect the Hastings brand and communicate
effectively to target audiences/visitors.
5. Create programmes and initiatives that will encourage and attract business
investment and growth in line with the Hastings identity.
The approach of this strategy deliberately moves the focus of marketing activities
by Hastings District Council off its own “tourism facilities” and onto marketing the
Hastings area and the broader range of features and attractions within it.
Marketing of Splash Planet and the Holiday Park will still occur, but marketing
activities for the Hastings area and the broader range of visitor attractions will
take centre stage.
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Develop a brand that reflects the strengths and aspirations of Hastings
In conjunction with a number of local creative agencies the Council will lead the
development of a brand for Hastings. That brand will then be used and managed to
market Hastings to visitors, and to help encourage pride in Hastings among
residents.
The brief is for a brand that is authentic, emphasises the positive aspects of
Hastings, and strongly links Hastings with the positive “brand” image of the
Hawke’s Bay region. This approach is also designed to enable Hastings to capitalise
on regional marketing campaigns and initiatives undertaken by Venture Hawke’s
Bay and/or other organisations or firms marketing the region.
It is proposed that this brand will be used as a strong and distinctive identifier for
Hastings in marketing activities and campaigns. It will also be available for use by
the visitor, events and other relevant industry sectors in order to promote Hastings
through successful events, facilities and activities.
Use events to market Hastings and attract visitors, and create the capability to
leverage off, improve and grow events
Events are seen as a key part of the marketing and visitor strategies for Hastings.
An events strategy is set out as part of this document.
Hastings already has a number of events that raise the profile of Hastings and
attract visitors. There is strong potential for Hastings to capitalise more strongly on
these events to further increase profile, attract more visitors and capture more
visitor spend. There is also potential for smaller events to be grown in scale and
impact, and for new events to be developed to attract greater visitor numbers
through the year.
Building a partnership approach with the events sector and the wider visitor sector
will be an important part of success in this area. There are already numerous event
organisers ranging from commercial event managers and promoters, sporting and
arts clubs and organisations, industry organisations, and government and nongovernment organisations who stage events as one part of their overall activities
(e.g. EIT, Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated). Key objectives are to ensure that
community benefits from existing events are maximised and that events are grown
and nurtured, where appropriate, to attract greater numbers of visitor.
Given the existing capability and activity in the event area, Council does not need
to be the major player in this space. However, it does have an important role to
play in supporting events and the organisations staging them. This support might
include sponsorship (where appropriate), services like coordination of road closure
and liquor licensing requirements, services such as registration, accommodation
booking or ticketing, and, perhaps most importantly, the linking together of
businesses and other stakeholders with events so that maximum benefit flows back
to Hastings community. The Council might also have a role in incepting and staging
events if there are opportunities that it is best placed to lead.
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The strategy below sets out more detail in relation to how this will be achieved.
Focus on innovative and niche-focused marketing channels to target specific
audiences/visitors
A significant part of the marketing work programme under this strategy will be to
identify in some detail the target audiences and markets that Hastings wants to
appeal to, and the marketing channels that will best meet these audiences.
This strategy is focussed on visitors. A separate strategy is being developed to focus
on targeting business investment audiences. Both the business investment strategy
and the visitor focussed strategy will to an extent address potential resident
audiences.
The visitor strategy outlined below identifies “in-region” visitors and events visitors
as key target audiences. Event visitors will be segmented according to the
grouping or type of event. For instance, adventure and outdoor sporting events
will provide target audiences interested in fitness and specific sports. There will
be websites, literature and other marketing channels that cater directly to these
audiences. The same will be the case for equestrian and horse racing events, arts
events and so on. Event based marketing needs to primarily identify the target
audience associated with each event and select and use the most appropriate
marketing channels.
For in-region visitors (either family and friends’ visitors or those visiting other parts
of the region) and broader visitor markets there will be a broader range of
audience segments. At a higher level there will be the family visitor audience, and
the no kids, leisure audiences. The family audience is likely to be looking for
activities and services for the whole family, and perhaps activities where different
family members can pursue different activities. Audiences outside the family
market (and there will be different audiences within this category) might be
visiting a summer concert or looking for a wine-trail weekend among other things.
Working with organisations and businesses marketing the Hawke’s Bay region will
be important in getting more visitors and more spend. The aim is to get people in
Hawke’s Bay or intending to come to Hawke’s Bay to come to Hastings and spend
here. In region visitors can be “hooked” before they get here or once they are
here. Linkages with regional marketing efforts become important, as do marketing
channels aimed at those staying with family and friends, and those staying
elsewhere within the region (predominantly Napier).
The strategy set out below expands on this approach.
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Use ‘stories’ that reflect the Hastings brand as a core part of marketing efforts
to communicate with and attract audiences/visitors
The brand is a key part of marketing a positive image of Hastings. A strong link to
the positive imagery of Hawke’s Bay has been identified as essential.
The Hastings brand needs to be supported by stories and examples that
demonstrate the positive aspects of Hastings. In effect, Hastings can’t just have a
brand, it needs to be the brand. Sharing the features of Hastings and the success
stories of its people are key to this.
As targets markets and audience are identified, stories that speak to those markets
and audiences will be identified and appropriately told. There is a wealth of
opportunities. For instance, the Cape Kidnappers Gannet colony and the firms that
show people this attraction are a feature that provides the ingredients for a great
story. Likewise, the craftsmanship and hard work of our winemakers, and the
heritage and legend behind some of our landscape features (e.g. Te Mata
Rongokako) present the basis for strong story telling. Strong relationships with the
businesses and people associated with those stories and features will be vital in
credibly telling those stories now and into the future.
The capability to identify the markets and audiences, the opportunities for stories,
and build the relationships to tell and exploit the stories will be a critical part of
implementing this strategy. Some of this capability exists across the broader
marketing, visitor and events sectors. The Council needs to ensure it has the
capability to draw it together effectively and make good use of it. The Council also
needs the marketing capability to be able to manage this strategy and identify and
drive the marketing opportunities that exist.
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Create programmes and initiatives based on Hastings’ strengths and attributes
that will encourage and attract business investment and growth
Growing business investment and employment is a key priority for Hastings. The
Council is developing a strategy to encourage and enable business investment as
part of its contribution to the economic development of the Hastings area.
There are three key components to the strategy. These are:
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Create opportunities for business investment through land rezoning and
infrastructure development.
Develop proactive and user-friendly regulatory and business development
services within the Council, including key account management services.
Create marketing campaigns targeted at specific investors/businesses (both
local and external) aimed at promoting and attracting business investment
and growing employment.
The marketing component of this strategy will target existing Hastings businesses
and businesses currently external to Hastings. It will have a key focus on businesses
likely to be able to exploit the business strengths of Hastings in the areas of
primary production and related manufacturing and servicing. Alongside this it will
have a targeted focus on selling to businesses that could locate anywhere the
lifestyle and locational (access to port, roads, availability of water, etc)
advantages of Hastings.
The broader marketing of Hastings as a place to both visit and live sits alongside
business specific marketing. Amenity and lifestyle features such as sports, arts and
cultural facilities and opportunities, quality of schooling, climate and wineries,
produce and other attractions feature highly in location decision made by business
owners and executives. Work done in the visitor marketing area on stories and
image building will “cross-pollinate” business marketing efforts.
This area of work will require further development of capability in the marketing,
regulatory and business development areas, as well as a coordinated approach
across these areas and the strategic planning and infrastructure parts of Council.
A separate Business Investment Strategy is under development and will sit
alongside this strategy. A key imperative of the marketing and business investment
strategies is the recognition of the linkages across the two initiatives.
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VISITOR STRATEGY
Analysis of the visitor market and industry has indicated two key areas where
Hastings can target its efforts to make gains in visitor numbers and spend. These
are visitors to events, and visitors already in the Hawke’s Bay Region.
Based on this the two key elements of the proposed visitor strategy are:
1.
2.
Attracting visitors to the Hastings to attend and/or participate in
events.
Leveraging more “time in Hastings” and visitor spend from “family
and friends” visitors and visitors that are already “in-region” (i.e.
elsewhere in the region).
The Events Strategy is set out below. A key part of translating events into
increased visitor numbers and spend will be identifying the markets and potential
audiences for particular types and groupings of events, and then marketing
successfully to those audiences through appropriate marketing channels.
Event visitors will be able to be segmented according to the nature or type of
event they are attending. For instance, adventure and outdoor sporting events will
provide target audiences interested in fitness and specific sports. There will be
websites, literature and other marketing channels that cater directly to these
audiences. The same will be the case for equestrian and horse racing events, arts
events and so on.
Getting more spend out of existing visitors (in-region and family and friend) is the
other key part of the strategy. As noted above, 42% of Hawke’s Bay’s visitors stay
with family and friends (HB Inc, Guests nights - 2008). Linking effectively with the
Hawke’s Bay brand and regional marketing efforts will be important in targeting
actual and potential visitors to Hawke’s Bay. The aim is to get people either in
Hawke’s Bay or intending to visit to come to Hastings and spend here. In region
visitors can be “hooked” before they get here or once they are here. A strong,
results focused working relationship with Venture Hawke’s Bay will be vital in
achieving this, as will relationships with other organisations and firms involved in
marketing and promoting the region. It is particularly important that Venture
Hawke’s Bay performs for Hastings.
For in-region visitors (either family and friends visitors or those visiting other parts
of the region) there will be a broader range of audience segments. At a higher level
there will be the family visitor audience, and a range of no kids, leisure audiences
among others. The family audience is likely to be looking for activities and services
for the whole family, and perhaps activities where different family members can
pursue different activities. The non-family audiences might be visiting a summer
concert or looking for a wine-trail weekend. They might be more active or passive
leisure activity focussed. There may also be events visitors within these audiences.
Marketing efforts for Hastings need to focus on further segmenting these
audiences, and on prioritising finding the marketing channels appropriate to
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reaching those segments most likely to visit and spend in Hastings. Marketing
channels aimed at existing residents will be important in influencing those visitors
that will stay with family and friends.
Some degree of prioritisation and ruthlessness will be vital in the marketing
process. The Council has comparatively small budgets for marketing when
compared with what can be spent on marketing and advertising. Expenditure must
be targeted toward areas likely to provide the greatest return, rather than on more
generic, unfocussed material. There will also potentially be competition for
resources between visitor marketing priorities and business investment marketing
priorities. Comment on the prioritisation process is made in section five below.
Once visitors are in Hastings and Hawke’s Bay, ensuring they get to places where
they can spend is vital. Strong working and marketing relationships with
attractions, hospitality, accommodation and other service providers are essential.
Developing relationships between regional and local marketers and visitor industry
businesses is a key area for focus. Lifting the performance of the i-Site to be able
to play a significant role in developing and supporting these relationships is key.
The i-Site also has a broader role to play. It needs to become the proactive retail
shop-front for Hastings, supporting and being a physical centre for overall
marketing efforts.
Across all of the audiences and target markets identified, relaunching the Hastings
web presence is a crucial part of the overall marketing approach and this visitor
strategy. In the modern environment, on-line marketing must become a much
higher priority. Attention will be given to examining and rebuilding the on-line
presence of Hastings from a marketing perspective.
In short we want visitors to come to Hastings, stay longer, and spend more.
Key Actions
Capitalise on Venture Hawke’s Bay and other Regional Marketing efforts - Direct
significant resource and attention to setting expectations, developing relationships
and monitoring the performance and effectiveness of Venture Hawke’s Bay. Ensure
Hastings marketing efforts are aligned and positioned to take advantage of visitor’s
generated by regional marketing efforts.
Visitor market analysis and target market identification – utilising the
appropriate capability, identify the key target audiences that are likely to be
attracted to the Hastings visitor offering.
Create and implement visitor campaigns appropriate for identified target
audiences and markets - utilising the appropriate capability, carry out marketing
activities aimed at increasing visitor numbers to Hastings and generating more
visitor spend. Ensure event visitors and those already visiting the Hawke’s Bay are
included within the range of target audiences. Include a focus on residents in
order to target visitors staying with family and friends.
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Relaunch Hastings’ Web presence to create an effective and interactive
marketing tool that sells Hastings – Review and overhaul the visitor focussed
website to create a virtual shopfront for Hastings. Ensure the website provides up
to date information on events and attraction in Hastings, and is interactive in
allowing access to further information and bookings.
Capability Enhancement – A full outline of capability requirements within Council
is included in section five, Capability Implementation and Measurement. However,
in relation to the Visitor Strategy Council needs to examine and where necessary
establish/improve capability in the following areas:
 Ability to drive and manage strategy implementation and identify marketing
opportunities.
 Market analysis and tactical selection
 Commissioning and management of marketing campaigns
 Relationship building and stakeholder management
 Linking regional and local marketing efforts with visitor industry businesses.
 Retail management in terms of the i-Site.
In addition to these key actions, Council also sees the addition of a hotel in the
Hastings CBD as a very desirable piece of visitor and business infrastructure.
Council will work with a number of hotel interests, developers and investors to try
to facilitate the development of a hotel.
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EVENTS STRATEGY
Events are seen as a key part of the Hastings visitor strategy. It is proposed to use
events to:
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create and nurture community spirit and pride within Hastings.
attract visitors to Hastings to get them to spend and stay.
While events are vitally important in the Council’s approach to attracting visitors,
they are also important to the people that live here. Council’s investment to
support events needs to meet twin goals of providing events that help provide a
vibrant and attractive place to live, as well as providing an attractant to visitors.
The role of events to grow pride among Hastings residents cannot be overstated.
Alongside that goal events can act as a strong factor in visitors deciding to come
here, which can increase economic activity and provide social and economic
benefits to local residents.
Whilst bearing in mind the Landmarks philosophy, building civic pride in our
community and encouraging residents and Council staff to be proactive and vigilant
in reporting damage, graffiti and missing or defaced road signs plays an important
part in making our District an attractive place to live, and for others to visit.
The strengths and attributes of Hastings have been identified above. These
currently provide the basis for a significant level of existing event activity. This
event activity and the features and attributes have led to the identification of the
following event development areas:
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Food and Wine
Equestrian and Thoroughbred Sport
Outdoor/Adventure Sports and other sporting events
Arts and Culture (including Maori Arts and Culture)
Community
While other areas may be added to this over time, these areas should be the focus
of attention from the events sector and Council in terms of growing, developing
and better capitalising on events, particularly from a visitor perspective. Central to
this will be building relationships with event organisers and stakeholders to support
and, where appropriate, grow events, and to build linkages so that the community
can better capitalise on the visitor generating capacity of events. Specific emphasis
should be given to translating each event into greater visitor numbers and greater
levels of visitor spend in Hastings.
In order to achieve this, a number of key actions have been identified:
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Key Actions
Emphasise a partnership approach to events in order to maximise benefits to
Hastings
There are numerous event organisers operating in Hastings. These include
commercial event managers and promoters, venue operators, sporting and arts
organisations, industry organisations, and government and non-government
organisations who stage events as one part of their overall activities (e.g. EIT,
Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated). This sector contains a lot of the capability
required to successfully stage events.
In many cases though existing events could benefit from support from Council. This
support might range from direct sponsorship (either in cash or kind) to support
services including arranging accommodation, registration, ticketing or logistics
through to business development advice and support to help grow or sustain the
event.
Better coordination and improved relationships are also required to maximise the
benefits of events to the Hastings community. Providing an effective formalised
link between particular events, accommodation and hospitality providers and
visitor service providers is essential in ensuring that community benefits from
events and the visitors they attract are maximised.
A partnership approach across the events/visitor sector will be important. Council
does not need to be the major player in organising events, but it should take a role
in building and supporting a partnership approach between events and the wider
visitor sector. The focus of this role is to help build a collaborative network of
event organisers, venues, visitor service providers, suppliers and other stakeholders
so that visitors to events are captured as much as possible by Hastings service
providers. The Council might also have a role in incepting and staging events if
there are opportunities that it is best placed to lead and that it has the capability
to deliver.
The Council does however have an important role to play in supporting events and
the organisations staging them. This support might include sponsorship (where
appropriate), services like coordination of road closure and liquor licensing
requirements, services such as registration, accommodation booking or ticketing,
and, perhaps most importantly, the linking together of businesses and other
stakeholders with events so that maximum benefit flows back to Hastings
community.
Build and align capability within Council to coordinate support for events and
support partnership development with event organisers
As noted above, much of the capability to stage successful events already exists
outside of the Council, in event management companies and promoters, in sports,
arts, business and cultural organisations, and in venue owners and managers.
Accommodation, hospitality and other visitor service providers also have a key role
in helping to support events and capture benefits to the community. Drawing these
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elements together so that Hastings can maximise the benefits from events is a role
that Council can play.
Developing a capability within Council to coordinate and foster a partnership
approach to events within the Hastings community is an important part of this
strategy. So to is a capability to effectively stage, support and help develop
events.
The event support capability needs to be able to:
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Create and maintain strong working relationships with and between
stakeholders to recognise and maximise the potential benefits from events.
Leverage off events to create positive marketing opportunities and messages
for Hastings.
Coordinate Council support services to events and identify opportunities to
grow existing events.
Where necessary provide marketing support to events.
Create and attract new events relevant to Hastings in partnership with local
and external partners and stakeholders.
Identify opportunities for new or enhanced events, and for Council
involvement in events.
Actively manage the risks attendant with any staging of events by Council.
This set of requirements points to the need for Council to refocus a significant
proportion of its marketing efforts towards supporting and leveraging off events.
The building of relationships with stakeholders is crucial. These requirements also
point to the need to ensure the i-Site (Visitor Information Centre) has a very strong
role and capability to support events. In particular, the relationship building with
and between event organisers, accommodation and visitor service providers (that
should be part of its core functions) become vital in ensuring that the community
captures maximum benefits from events.
Developing these capabilities within Council is a key action from the strategy and
will be a significant Council contribution to its success.
Develop an events framework and criteria to guide Council decision making
around support for events
The event development areas identified above provide guidance on where effort
should be directed in terms of better capitalising on the potential of events to
grow visitor numbers and spend.
Based on these event development areas, a framework and set of criteria for
Council support for events has been developed. This is set out as appendix one.
This framework will guide Council decision making on events. While Council may
depart from the framework on a case by case basis, and may decline to support
particular events on strategic or budgetary grounds, the framework gives a broad
overview of Council’s likely approach. As well as taking into account marketing and
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visitor impacts of an event, the Council in its decision making will also take
account of issues such as financial, reputational and project (including public
safety) risk.
This framework will be reviewed over time as experience in supporting events is
gathered.
Through the Annual Plan and the next LTCCP review Council should review the
quantum of resourcing it makes available in support of events.
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Work with stakeholders to coordinate and fill a Hastings Events calendar
A partnership approach among the events and wider visitor sectors will allow a
common events calendar to be developed. Coordination regionally, potentially with
Venture Hawke’s Bay, will also be possible. The benefits from an events calendar
approach will be:
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Allow gaps in the events calendar to be identified and opportunities to be
spotted.
Coordinate events in Hastings and across Hawke’s Bay to minimise clashes.
Greater planning and coordination around events to occur to enable
relationships and partnership opportunities to develop.
Council’s marketing team, with the right capability and direction from Council, has
the potential to be able to lead this coordination function.
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CAPABILITY, IMPLEMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT
Capability
Successful implementation of this strategy relies on adequate capability to deliver
it. While Council does not have the only role to play marketing Hastings and
maximising the benefits from visitors, it does have an important coordinating and
supporting role, and needs to ensure it builds the appropriate capability.
Key Capability building steps include:
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A review of the Council Marketing and Events function to ensure capability
exists to:
o Drive strategy implementation and actively examine strategy
effectiveness
o identify marketing strengths and opportunities including events,
o identify audiences and target markets,
o commission and manage appropriate marketing campaigns
o build effective working relationships and business linkages with visitor
and event industry businesses and organisations, in particular Venture
Hawke’s Bay
o support and foster events
o take an entrepreneurial approach to marketing Hastings taking
account of the Council’s public sector context.
A review of the i-Site operation to ensure capability exists to:
o build effective working relationships and business linkages with visitor
and event industry businesses and organisations and other key
stakeholders
o run a high quality, well managed retail operation focussed on selling
Hastings and its wares
An analysis of Council activities that impact on marketing and events (e.g.
Consenting services, road closures, parks bookings, liquor licensing, Opera
House ticketing and venue booking) to ensure they are adequately aligned
and linked together.
A key focus for the Council must be on building and maintaining industry and
stakeholder relationships in such a manner that the business linkages necessary to
ensure economic benefits from visitor and event activities are maximised for the
Hastings community.
These review processes have been commissioned by the Chief Executive Officer of
the Council.
Implementation and Resourcing
A number of key actions have been identified throughout this strategy. The first
priority for implementation are the capability reviews outlined above. Some
implementation actions will happen alongside the capability reviews as
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HDC Marketing, Visitor and Events Strategy
page 18 of 24
opportunities are identified, but key steps such as the market analysis and the
identification of marketing priorities and campaign opportunities will happen post
the capability review. That capability review should be completed by the end of
2009.
Resourcing and prioritisation will be an important part of successful marketing and
visitor activities. In addition to staff costs, Council currently allocates $90,000 a
year for District marketing. It also has some money set aside for Tourism,
Marketing and Branding (approximately $120,000) that will be used to fund the roll
out of branding for the district and specific marketing initiatives, with a further
$25,000 provided for in 2010/2011. Specific facilities and services such as the
Hastings Art Gallery, Splash Planet and the Holiday Park have theirre own budgets.
The Council also budgets $186,700 to support events, with $156,700 being
allocated to specific events and $30,000 to support and seed fund smaller events.
A key part of this strategy, and in particular the implementation plan, will be to
identify the relative priorities for expenditure. Marketing initiative aimed at both
visitor attraction and business investment will need to be funded from the
marketing budgets. Relative priorities will need to be assessed against predicted
“bang for buck”. In house expertise will need to be augmented with professional
advice in order to assist decision making in this area.
Council may determine that it wishes to invest greater resourcing in some of these
areas once it have seen what it can purchase with the funding it has available.
Upgrading the ability of the i-Site to deliver on Council expectations may be a
priority. As events grow in importance, the Council may also wish to look at the
funding and support it puts into events. These issues will be addressed in the
context of this strategy and implementation plan through the LTCCP and Annual
Plan processes.
An implementation plan for this strategy will be reported to Council after the
capability reviews are complete. This is expected to be done during February
2010.
Measurement
Below are a number of key performance areas have been identified in order to
provide a basis for monitoring the effectiveness of Council efforts in this area of
activity. Indicators will be developed based on these. In some areas further work is
required to establish baseline measurements and to develop actual mechanisms for
measurement.
The performance of the i-Site will form a large part of what the Council is
measuring as this is a key frontline service. Other measures to develop the
effectiveness of Council’s wider efforts will need to be developed alongside the iSite related measures.
Visitor Metrics

Growth in visitor nights in commercial accommodation in Hastings
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HDC Marketing, Visitor and Events Strategy
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
Growth in estimated visitor spend in Hastings
Client Feedback



Visitors surveys indicate that visitors using the i-Site have changed their
plans to visit an additional attraction or stay an additional night in Hastings
because of the i-Site
Visitor ratings of i-Site via user surveys
i-Site revenue derived from commissions off bookings
Stakeholder Feedback




The Hastings i-Site is rated by Tourism New Zealand as one of the top five
performing i-Sites in New Zealand by July 2012.
Rating of the i-Site by Hastings visitor industry firms through surveys:
o adds value to their businesses.
o Number of booking received due to i-Site referrals
o Regularity of contact between i-Site staff and surveyed businesses
Resident’s feedback on civic pride in District through 3 yearly surveys.
Resident’s feedback on visitor experience of family and friends visitors
Events




Number of events assisted by Council
Interview feedback from event organisers on event growth
Tracking by i-Site of referrals to accommodation and attractions from events
Monitoring of economic impact studies for particular events
Economic Impact


Analysis of GDP from Tourism/Visitor sectors
Analysis of employment in Tourism/Visitor Sectors
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HDC Marketing, Visitor and Events Strategy
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HASTINGS DISTRICT COUNCIL - EVENT SUPPORT CRITERIA
These criteria should be read in conjunction with Council’s policy and procedures for the financial support of events.
The Council has identified four levels of events: Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze. These are defined in the table below.
The Council has developed the following guidelines to guide its decision making around support for events. While it may depart from
these on a case by case basis, and may decide not to support specific events on strategic or budgetary grounds, these provide an
indication of likely Council support.
Premium
 Likely Cash or in-kind Sponsorship (from $10,000 up) if needed/of use
 Full key account service for Council and support services
Significant
 Possible cash or in-kind sponsorship (up to $10,000) if needed/of use (Council may choose to go above this level of funding
for specific events with strong community or heritage values)
 Full key account service for Council and support services
Medium
 Possible cash or in-kind sponsorship (up to $5,000) if needed/of use
 Key account service to suit scale of event
Modest
 Cash sponsorship unlikely unless specific outcomes being delivered. In-kind sponsorship possible.
 Assistance and cooperation to suit scale of event.
The following table shows a number of existing events held in Hastings assessed against the criteria listed above. The listing of
events is not exhaustive and those listed are used as examples).
HDC Marketing strategy
Page 21 of 25
Event Level
Food and Wine
Equestrian/
Thoroughbred Sports
Outdoor/Adventure
Sports
Platinum




Significant
national or
international
exposure for
Hastings
(and/or)

Significant
Visitor
Numbers (e.g.
1,000+)
Gold



Some national
exposure for
Hastings.
Strong
regional
exposure
Strong Visitor
attractor (500
– 1,000 or
more)
May have
strong
community
relevance or
buy-in
HDC Marketing strategy
Harvest
Hawke’s Bay

Spring Racing
Carnival
Horse of the Year
Show
Arts and Culture
Cape Kidnappers 
International Golf
Event
Takitimu
Festival
Community

National Motor
Home
Convention @
A&P
Showgrounds
(2,000 +
visitors
expected)




Page 22 of 25
Tour of Hawke’s 
Bay Cycling
Cape Kidnappers
Challenge
Rabobank
National Cycling
Race Crownthorpe?
Matariki


Blossom
Festival*
A&P Show
Event Level
Food and Wine
Silver



Possible
national
exposure for
Hastings.
Regional
exposure
 Some visitor
attraction
 May have
strong
community
relevance or
buy-in
Bronze




Smaller scale
event with
limited
exposure
Limited levels
of visitors
May have
potential for
growth
May have
community
relevance or
buy-in
HDC Marketing strategy
Olive Festival
Blues Brews &
Barbeques
Equestrian/Thorough
bred Sports
Outdoor/Adventure
Sports
Arts and Culture


Triple Peaks
Challenge
Adventure Race
Kaweka
Challenge
Softball – Fun in
the Sun





HB Charity
Wine Auction
HB A&P
Mercedes Wine
Auction


Tremain’s
Triathlon?





Rotary Coast &
Country Walk



Page 23 of 25
Black Barn
Concerts
International
Cultures Day
Art Deco –
(Hastings
Events)
Askerne
Winery
Concerts
Summer in the
Parks
Sculpture
Symposium
Live after Five
series
Chill Pill Kim
Crawford
Vineyard
Amazing
Maize Easter
Egg Hunt
Community






Fiesta of
Lights
Edible Fashion
Awards
Flaxmere
Family Festival
The Village
Festival
Rose Sunday
Rotary ?
(*The Blossom Festival has attracted significant Council funding over time and Council may wish to continue supporting it
at a level outside these criteria. It may also wish direct support at specific elements within the festival if component events
meet platinum or gold criteria.)
The Council will also examine the likely sustainability of an event when considering funding and support. The overall
feasibility of the event, the risk to Council, and the likelihood of the event being able to stand on its own in the future will
be criteria to be considered (although not necessarily solely determining).
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