Nobody is underestimating the severe impact on New Zealand’s and Auckland’s visitor economy from the COVID-19 border restrictions and lockdown but we are making good progress on the Destination Auckland Recovery Plan, which has been approved by the ATEED Board and shared with industry partners.
The recovery plan is a guide to rebuild Auckland’s visitor economy and will have clear responsibilities for ATEED to own, but the overall intent is to provide leadership to the Auckland visitor economy to guide a coordinated and cohesive response. The Industry Leaders Group, which guided the development of the Destination AKL 2025 Strategy and the Destination Auckland Recovery Plan, meets frequently and the ongoing importance of this group in shaping the recovery is clear.
The recovery plan will ensure that ATEED is optimising the public and private sector’s collective approach to recovery and mitigating the possibility of working at cross-purposes. Any future changes to the Government’s COVID-19 alert system and Ministry of Health guidelines will determine recovery timeframes.
A stunning video produced by ATEED that captured the beauty and stillness of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland during lockdown was shared across the world. Papatūānuku is breathing resonated with New Zealanders and the global community – so much so that it was translated into seven different languages by inspired viewers. The two-minute video was made by our staff at no cost with a goal of creating a connection and a message that reflected the region’s uniquely Māori culture while using existing Auckland footage.
The video has been viewed more than a million times across different platforms and generated the most engagements on ATEED’s Visit Auckland Facebook page ever.
Work on a domestic campaign partnership with Tourism New Zealand and providing tools for the industry to assist in marketing Auckland is underway, as are campaigns around showcasing Auckland’s dining scene, and work with the hospitality and retail sectors to develop a strategy to activate Auckland’s night-time economy.
Following a meeting of Auckland Council’s Emergency Committee in April, Auckland Council waived the current quarterly Accommodation Providers’ Targeted Rate (APTR) payment from 1 April to 30 June 2020. This was an option that the ATEED Board endorsed and proactively recommended in a letter from the chair of the ATEED Board to the Mayor.
ATEED is very supportive of Council’s decision given the financial relief it will give to accommodation providers in the current environment. Council’s proposal to extend the suspension of the rate through the next financial year is now part of public consultation on the Emergency Budget.
We have reviewed our budget to take that significant loss of revenue (about half of our destination budget) into account, and re-prioritised the work programme to align with the recovery plan.
Despite the uncertainties presented by Covid-19 on 2021 planning, the year still presents significant opportunities as Auckland’s biggest planned major events year and can play a critical part in Auckland’s economic recovery. The 2021 planning work is aligned with other areas of ATEED’s recovery planning to ensure the impacts as well as opportunities for the 2021 programme are clear.