MORE than 1000 visitors were brought to Te Kūiti by train last Friday and Sunday — and many vowed to come back. PHOTO DM JEWELLERY
I MIGHT have had my feet up for much of the weekend thinking “I’m too old for this”. But being tired was completely overshadowed by the satisfaction of seeing the results of what hospitality really means – and the intangible benefits it brings. I’m talking of the steam train visits last weekend. It seemed to us that around 450 people each time (and it was 550 on Friday as it turned out) was too good an opportunity to let go in showcasing King Country hospitality. To that end, in a joint effort with Legendary Te Kūiti and with the wonderful help from New World Te Kūiti, we were able to create a reception that will pay off long into the future. How do we know that? In manning the bbq, I got to hear firsthand what visitors thought about it all. In a nutshell, the hospitality was the big one. For many, they noted it was something outside of their usual life experiences, and more than a few said it reminded them of an earlier time when it was the norm rather than the exception. Others expressed their delight in the prettiness of the plaza, in the Meads brothers’ exhibition, the statues, and how there were so many things to see they hadn’t realised. And how many had made the firm decision they were going to come back. And that was the crux of it all. Sometimes, the intangibles can matter much more than we realise. In having the visitors here for an hour or so, there wasn’t much opportunity for them to spend a lot other than in the lunch outlets, and those that opened did well there. But even if just 10% come back, that is still 100 people. If they were here for a week, on average, they’d be spending more than $5000 if you tally up accommodation, food, fuel, tourist activities and retail spending. As a prior media advisor to Destination Rotorua and a long-time tourist myself, I’m comfortable with what that expenditure would be. That’s around $500,000 into the local economy resulting from just one weekend’s events. But perhaps more than any other thing, this display of its usual hospitality does the one thing Te Kūiti, in particular, most needs. A clearing away of the misconceptions people who live outside of it so often have. And this too I know, in being an outsider who came to it with a view that mainstream media tends to wrongfully emphasise. There is so much it could gain from cashing in on its heritage background, it’s strong cultural basis. And as myself and my extended family, many of whom now reside here, well know – that spectacular hospitality. All we need is the leaders of our town to get funding sorted to give to organisations like Legendary Te Kūiti to really get the ball rolling.
