Record profit for Motueka i-Site announced

September 30th, 2015
[by David Armstrong]

A record AGM attendance of 35 last night heard about a breakthrough year for Tasman Bays Promotion Association, which announced its largest ever profit.

TBPA, which runs Motueka i-Site and is responsible for promoting tourism in the area, ended the year with a net operating surplus of $64,822, more than double its previous year.

This follows what many in the industry say has been a bumper year for tourism not only in this area but throughout New Zealand. This boom is expected to continue for several years ahead.

The timing is good, because this is the last year that Tasman District Council will provide $50,000 in supporting funds, meaning i-Site will need to remain totally self-funded next year.

In her report to the AGM, i-Site manager Lois Walker said that given the amount of work that i-Site does on Council's behalf with no financial return, the organisation and tourism in general is in effect "now subsidising Council".

"Despite our best efforts to convince TDC that we work on their behalf performing public good services with no dollar return almost every day of the year, our council remains firm in its resolve to cease our grant support," Lois said.

"We stress that the grant is not supporting tourism - it's about the council role we take on when they're closed. In effect, tourism is now subsidising Council.

"The most recent research tells us clearly what we already believed - that i-Sites across the network are making a positive contribution to the New Zealand economy by facilitating visitor spending.

"The average return to households in the Nelson-Tasman region for every $1 provided in funding is $7.10. Therefore based on our $50,000 grant last year, our i-Site could have returned $260,000 to Tasman regional households."

TBPA this year invested $35,000 to make some video advertisements currently being run on TV One. That, along with the removal of TDC's funding, means that the i-Site is budgeting for a deficit for the coming financial year.

In order to ease that deficit, members voted last night to increase their membership fee by 2.5%, the first increase in four years.

Another pleasing item of news which Lois announced was that Motueka i-Site had received the highest customer satisfaction level (about 93%) of all New Zealand's i-Sites over the past six months.

Lois also commented on the first nine months of an 18-month trial during which the local Department of Conservation office for great walks, backcountry tickets and annual passes was located in the i-Site building.

"The DOC and i-Site information certainly complement each other, but we've yet to be convinced the combination is right for us in our situation," she said.

"We'll see the trial through with our best intentions to make it work, but in my opinion the extra responsibility and time needed to work through the complex backcountry itineraries when we've got people lining up for other bookings, is worth a good deal more than just 10% commission.

"We earned just $4,468 more than for same period before the trial, but the time spent to generate it would be easily twice that of other products."

About half of TBPA's income last year came from commission on sales of bookings for accommodation and tourist activities, with 18% coming from membership fees for display of tourism provider advertisements in the i-Site building.

Sales of its visitor guide, TDC's grant and miscellaneous extras make up the rest of the income. Nearly two-thirds of the income comes from tourist activities, 17% from accommodation, 13% from transport and 5% from DOC.

Guest speaker at the AGM was Rob Evans, who is CEO of Nelson Airport. He gave a detailed background of the work he's been doing to revitalise the airport brand, identify its key role in the community, and undertake a significant development program.

With recent news of new airlines and destinations, especially that of JetStar, the airport now has ambitious aims including selling 1 million passenger seats next year. With six airlines, seven destinations and 282 flights per week, it is now one of the busiest airports in New Zealand.

Rob said that the main growth now is coming from flights to and from Auckland. Answering a question, he also said that there is no plan ever to make Nelson an international airport.

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