Certainly when it comes to business matters, it always pays to keep an eye on the competition. But if you have a point of difference, and the confidence to promote that and build on it, then that should be your focus.
Discussion about the Dunedin City Council’s draft festivals and events plan, which aims to bring more major happenings to the city, has raised the bogeyman of what is happening up the road in Christchurch and how it might affect things in Dunedin.
Submissions on the 32-page draft plan closed on Sunday. The plan, which has been criticised for its vagueness, wants to boost the city as a "great events destination" and provide a calendar of "accessible, diverse and inclusive" occasions.
Event promoter Doug Kamo, of DKCM, has warned of the danger of Christchurch becoming "a massive thorn in our side", with its new convention centre Te Pae and the under construction central city stadium Te Kaha, due to open in April 2026.
These two new post-earthquake facilities will have a major impact on Dunedin in the years ahead. While Dunedin has benefited from the lack of facilities in Christchurch while its recovery has progressed in the past decade or so, clearly those days are, to a considerable extent, numbered.
However, we have to be careful not to develop a siege mentality. It is easy to do so when geography and population distribution mean the South can be overlooked for concerts, sporting events and, even, a new hospital.
It is worth remembering that any event in the South Island profits us all. A high-profile rugby test in Christchurch will still have economic benefits here, in the same way that a major concert in Auckland will bring visitors to the whole country.
Dunedin cannot control what Christchurch does events-wise. Nor should it spend all its time looking over its shoulder at its larger neighbour and fretting over what it might be missing out on.
Many of our more down-to-earth attractions are the envy of the rest of the country and known across the world.
Dunedin remains undoubtedly and proudly the best, most vibrant, most close to nature, small city in New Zealand.
Waves of discontent
Things ain’t going swell for the holiday period sailings of the Cook Strait ferries, adding to the lengthy list of trials and tribulations the vessels and their operators have bestowed upon their passengers in the past year.
Some region of New Zealand is nearly always affected by stormy weather around the cusp of the new year. This year, the South has been less affected by the change in weather patterns than central parts of the country and the North Island’s east coast.
For Wellington and Cook Strait especially, it has been an unusual procession of southerly gale after southerly gale since about Boxing Day, bringing cold and wet weather and frequent large swells which have significantly disrupted the travel plans of thousands of summer holidaymakers.
On several days in the past fortnight, ferry sailings have been cancelled due to the roiling seas in the strait. These sea conditions, and the subsequent cancellations, are much more common in winter. However, given the parlous state of the ferries, it is possible the threshold for cancellations has been lowered somewhat, out of an abundance of caution.
The government cannot afford the bad publicity which might come from a ferry drifting helplessly about off the south coast of Wellington in a howling southerly. Not that you’ll find many politicians on board as they head off on their holidays.
Unfortunately, even new Minister for Rail Winston Peters can’t do anything about the weather.
