Imagine there are no trains, it isn’t hard to do. No groups of happy tourists, bringing GDP to you.
It’s great to have provocative opinion pieces in our paper, however, the challenge is when they track away from reality.
Such is the opinion piece on Taieri Gorge railway in the ODT 14 March 2023, which needs to be taken with a train of salt.
The answer is, it contains figures that are commercially sensitive and release could affect the Taieri Gorge railway’s ability to function commercially in the future, thus redaction is completely in order.
The council would be foolish to reveal any figures before it finally decides on any future pathways. That’s a bit like telling an auctioneer what your top bid is before the auction even starts. The council’s role is to get the best deal for the ratepayer.
Was Mr Simms’ opinion piece wedded to a point of view that cycle tourism is a nirvana for Taieri Gorge? Cycle tourism has a place, but an overwhelming number of visitors are more likely to take an attraction like the Taieri Gorge train than cycle.
Cycle is small niche tourism. Only 4% of visitors do a cycle touring trip (MBIE stats 2021). Statistics show over 50% of people visit Dunedin because of heritage. The Taieri Gorge train is a world famous and vital part of this heritage. The Taieri Gorge train is a prestige attraction hosting over a million visitors in the 12-year trading period pre-Covid, an average of 80,000 visitors annually. It returned surpluses in 10 out of those 12 years with a $67million turnover; money spent in Dunedin benefiting our community.
We need unique iconic attractions for Dunedin. We need sizzle for visitors to be attracted to our city.
Tourism is valuable. Dunedin pre-Covid visitor impact was over $700million, around 5% of our GDP and jobs. Economic effect of an iconic attraction like the train is widely spread. For example, generally spend on visitor activities is around 10% of the overall spend with the rest going on retail, accommodation, meals etc, so the impact of someone buying a ticket on the train is huge.
From my experience, I know that people coming to Dunedin would usually stay at least a couple of nights here, with an average spend of $228 per day (Tourism NZ 2022), so an $80 train ticket enables another $350-plus at least spend into our city. Multiply that by up to 80,000 and you get an idea of the value annually of the train’s impact.
Mr Simms also says supporting the Taieri Gorge railway is a social injustice. This is a huge hyperbole and quite unwarranted.
It’s one of Dunedin’s hero attractions, a tourism award winner and a major economic generator providing GDP and jobs for many people. It also provides a chance for locals to see parts of Dunedin they may not have access to.
My life has been spent in tourism and I’m an expert in this sector so I know the reality of the tourism sector and the vitally important role the Taieri Gorge train plays in our city. To consider replacing it with yet another cycle trail would result in substantially less benefit to Dunedin.
Anyway, cyclists can enjoy the beauty of the Taieri Gorge safely from the train, which can carry them on the last leg of the Otago Central Rail Trail into Dunedin, thus enjoying both heritage and scenery. Cycles and trains, surely a carriage made in heaven.
Unlike Mr Simms, we cannot compare ourselves to a tiny town like Clyde, population 1200. Dunedin is proudly the "heritage capital" of New Zealand and has attractions that are famous worldwide – we don’t need to do cycle "me too".
We need to do unique and world-class. Taieri Gorge train journeys are “one of the world’s great train journeys”, from one of the Southern Hemisphere’s most photographed buildings, Dunedin Railway Station. A station without a train is like Christmas without Santa. We are fortunate enough to have the full package bringing all its gifts to our city.
To retain the train ensures Dunedin stays on track to benefit from an economic engine and iconic community asset ferrying us into the future in a truly gorgeous way.
• Sophie Barker is an elected member of the Dunedin City Council and deputy mayor, but these views are her own.
