Anyone who books ahead a week or two will never have a problem finding a suitable bed in Invercargill. Major events like the Burt Munro and Fielddays do create pinch points but that is one month a year.
It's an ILT not knowing how to run a hotel thing. or a restaurant, or a bar. It's a not knowing how to attract tourism thing, or market anything really.
We need to build a Southland Food & Tourism brand for the region which can only happen if we have more people in this sector, with knowledge & then ‘skin in the game’ to collectively grow and realise this. Then we can market that, Not a BS marketing campaign like the last spendy 'Invercargill' one. Then we'll attract people. then we'll get those high occupancy rates. Distinction knows how to market, they'll fill those 150 beds. This won’t worry them, the other mob will see a further decrease once they open up.
Short answer, If ILT stopped spinning all this and actually became landlords in both accom & food and let people with the skills run the things, which would be ‘for the community’. It would fix all the above. We know we have the best seafood in country, the best produce and we're the gateway to Fiordland, Catlins, Steward Is, all the places. We just need to tap into the potential here. Then we wouldn't have to read this bs anymore, because Invercargill would simply be the place to be. Not that it already isn't, but it would attract and retain doctors, dentists, nurses and many other professionals that we desperately need here. The Beyond 2025 plan solves nothing, it's just talk talk talk. We need to start actioning things
Realize this brand and it's potential & market that. The people will come, for sure, and they'll love it here.
Thats a pretty simplistic answer and fails to understand the history behind where Invercargill as a city is at right now.
We have many good people working hard on food tourism events in the south backed by people who are top in their fields. These events take a huge amount of effort to get off the ground and into the public arena and the ILT is one of the groups that supports these initiatives along with other southern businesses like the Alliance group.
I agree we have yet to find the Southland brand that grabs people attention and gives us a point of difference but what we suffer from is failing to be aspirational rather than trying to find problems.
Before rushing to blame any one organisation for anything we need to think about the reality.
In 1978 the ILT opened the Ascot complex and since then it has been one of NZs premier conference facilities bringing thousands of people to the south and doing more for Invercargill than any other one thing apart from the hospital. That cant be disputed and needs to be compared to other cities of a similar size like Timaru.
Another thing that brings many bed nights to our city is the stadium which again without the ILT would never have been built.
Its easy to sit and explain what needs done from behind a computer keyboard but such thoughts need to be grounded in reality and understand the challenges people face investing money and taking the risks that come with that.
Having a them and us thinking will never achieve anything, what Southland needs is engagement at every level from the councils who invest huge amounts into Great South right down to the mum and dad operators of small businesses and drive a strategy that we all can get behind.
I guess nobody told Geoff Thompson that ‘Dig This’ has shut down.
Yet, a work colleague struggles to find a room on their monthly visit south? Apart from the Langlands, which our company deems to be way overpriced.
Anyone who books ahead a week or two will never have a problem finding a suitable bed in Invercargill. Major events like the Burt Munro and Fielddays do create pinch points but that is one month a year.
Good old I L T strikes again ....
It's an ILT not knowing how to run a hotel thing. or a restaurant, or a bar. It's a not knowing how to attract tourism thing, or market anything really.
We need to build a Southland Food & Tourism brand for the region which can only happen if we have more people in this sector, with knowledge & then ‘skin in the game’ to collectively grow and realise this. Then we can market that, Not a BS marketing campaign like the last spendy 'Invercargill' one. Then we'll attract people. then we'll get those high occupancy rates. Distinction knows how to market, they'll fill those 150 beds. This won’t worry them, the other mob will see a further decrease once they open up.
Short answer, If ILT stopped spinning all this and actually became landlords in both accom & food and let people with the skills run the things, which would be ‘for the community’. It would fix all the above. We know we have the best seafood in country, the best produce and we're the gateway to Fiordland, Catlins, Steward Is, all the places. We just need to tap into the potential here. Then we wouldn't have to read this bs anymore, because Invercargill would simply be the place to be. Not that it already isn't, but it would attract and retain doctors, dentists, nurses and many other professionals that we desperately need here. The Beyond 2025 plan solves nothing, it's just talk talk talk. We need to start actioning things
Realize this brand and it's potential & market that. The people will come, for sure, and they'll love it here.
Thats a pretty simplistic answer and fails to understand the history behind where Invercargill as a city is at right now.
We have many good people working hard on food tourism events in the south backed by people who are top in their fields. These events take a huge amount of effort to get off the ground and into the public arena and the ILT is one of the groups that supports these initiatives along with other southern businesses like the Alliance group.
I agree we have yet to find the Southland brand that grabs people attention and gives us a point of difference but what we suffer from is failing to be aspirational rather than trying to find problems.
Before rushing to blame any one organisation for anything we need to think about the reality.
In 1978 the ILT opened the Ascot complex and since then it has been one of NZs premier conference facilities bringing thousands of people to the south and doing more for Invercargill than any other one thing apart from the hospital. That cant be disputed and needs to be compared to other cities of a similar size like Timaru.
Another thing that brings many bed nights to our city is the stadium which again without the ILT would never have been built.
Its easy to sit and explain what needs done from behind a computer keyboard but such thoughts need to be grounded in reality and understand the challenges people face investing money and taking the risks that come with that.
Having a them and us thinking will never achieve anything, what Southland needs is engagement at every level from the councils who invest huge amounts into Great South right down to the mum and dad operators of small businesses and drive a strategy that we all can get behind.
Very good points - Too many running round like headless chooks.
So in response to the second comment , ILT has invested $55 million of public money into building
a hotel that private industry would, but for licensing laws, have twenty years ago furnished , yet got its niche wrong ….? being too pricey ?