The joint venture with the Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust in Oamaru’s Victorian precinct received $290,000 from the Government’s contestable co-investment fund, the Tourism Growth Partnership, just over a year ago.
And while a media release from Tourism Waitaki on September 13 stated the attraction would open in mid-November, last week Mr Gaskill would not be drawn on an opening date.
"Work is continuing," he said.
"We’re still working on the fitout [of the building] and we’re pretty pleased with progress up to now."
Mr Gaskill said he hoped to confirm an opening date and a name for the attraction — dubbed the "Harbour Street Project" — in the "next week or so".
The attraction would fundamentally offer an interactive experience connecting visitors to the Victoriana in Oamaru, he said.The project’s Harbour St home was being finished with a formal Victorian parlour; a "saloon-type setting"; a "theatre area" focused on Victorian clothing; an agricultural display; and a "pennyfarthing experience".
"People are encouraged to sit, touch, listen, view, take photographs — it’s going to be a pretty cool thing," he said.
"It’s kind of a ‘doing’ place. You go in, you do stuff. And you’ll have the chance to put yourself inside certain types of environments and possibly certain types of experiences — that’s the intention behind it. We kind of want to open up the Victorian ‘vibe’ to people, get them really enthusiastic about it and then send them out into the wider activities on Harbour St. ... The idea is to just really give people the chance to immerse themselves a bit."
The attraction would require staff, he said, but he would not be drawn on how many staff would be required.
He said Tourism Waitaki was "heavily focused" on employment in the district.
"Within Tourism Waitaki, we recognise the value of creating valuable employment opportunities. And so when we go into situations, and when we start looking at opportunities, that is one of the things we do consider — what the jobs impact could be.
"At this stage, [the number of staff required at the attraction] is all dependent on the volume of people coming through — but at this stage we anticipate needing ‘a number’ of staff that will be operating in different capacities down there — but at the same time we want to take advantage of some other services being provided by existing businesses on the street."
Last month, Tourism Waitaki announced four new staff members, including two Asian marketing specialists, an online media specialist and an events co-ordinator.Tourism Waitaki Ltd was formerly known as the Waitaki Development Board. It is a Waitaki District Council controlled organisation.
