The Waitaki District Council’s economic development and tourism review is "on track and on budget", business attraction and recovery manager Melanie Jones says.
The council is undertaking a review of its economic development and tourism delivery, to establish a new strategy for Waitaki.
The project has a budget of $200,0000, and aims to develop a new "clear and focused" strategy to enable sustainable growth and resilience.
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher announced the council planned to undertake a review in August last year, after Tourism Waitaki’s "Sweet Spot" marketing campaign drew strong criticism in the district.
At the time, he said the council believed the district’s tourism and economic development activity could be delivering better value for ratepayers and more measurable benefits.
In December, New Zealand strategy consulting firm Polis, of which former Labour Party leader David Cunliffe is a director and partner, was contracted to do the review.
At yesterday’s executive committee meeting, Mrs Jones said that over the past two months, the focus had been on analysis of the local economy and understanding the strategic context.
There had been "significant" stakeholder engagement in recent weeks.
Ten group discussions and 24 interviews had taken place, involving Te Runaka o Moeraki, business leaders and "groups representing the diversity of the economy", and three council workshops had been scheduled to get input from councillors.
The final draft economic development strategy was expected to be completed by the end of next month.
The project is also reviewing how the council, Tourism Waitaki and partners are best set up to deliver it.
Mrs Jones also updated councillors on the district’s economic situation.
According to Infometrics’ provisional GDP estimates, Waitaki’s economy grew by 7.8% over the year to December 2021. This growth was "abnormally high" as it was being compared with 2020, which was heavily affected by Covid-19, but it was ahead of the national growth rate of 5.5% and Otago’s 6.9%, Mrs Jones said.
Waitaki’s growth was an indication of the strength of its primary sector, she said.
Waitaki’s dairy payout for the 2021-22 season was expected to be about $402million — about $65million more than the previous season.
However, farmers were also facing significant cost rises — feed prices were up 40%, and fertiliser costs up 58% — and many would be repaying debt and putting more money into environmental development initiatives, Mrs Jones said.
Waitaki’s employment rate was up 1.6% over the year to December 2021, led by growth in the construction, retail, and health sectors, and the unemployment rate was 3.1%, down from 4.1% the previous year.
An average of 658 people received the jobseeker benefit in the district last year.
Waitaki’s house values grew by 23.1% in the December 2021 quarter — the average value was now $479,500. Construction was also very "buoyant".
Domestic tourism electronic card spending in the district was up 12.2%, compared with increases of 3.9% in New Zealand and 1.6% in Otago. Total tourism expenditure was about $101million, up from about $90million a year earlier.
