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Speaker 1: You're speaking of getting back to basics that government directive.

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Speaker 1: Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is pushing forward with his quest

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Speaker 1: to shut down Auckland's council controlled organization. So, according to

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Speaker 1: leak papers, he's progressing plans to disestablish the city's tourism

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Speaker 1: and economic development agency Tatuki Unlimited. Wayne Brown says, quote

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Speaker 1: major events, destination marketing and visitor attractions are not a

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Speaker 1: required activity for the council. But what impact would the

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Speaker 1: closure have? Hospitality in Z's CEO, Steve Armitage is with

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Speaker 1: the suce evening Calder.

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Speaker 2: Steve Calder Jack.

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Speaker 1: So what does Auckland Unlimited actually do.

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Speaker 2: Well? In simple terms, an economic development agency promotes the

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Speaker 2: region that's as an attractive destination for businesses, investors and visitors,

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Speaker 2: but it also provides an important point for people who

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Speaker 2: live there. You know, we all want to live in

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Speaker 2: vibrant places. We all want to ensure that there's our

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Speaker 2: high quality content that we're engaged with on a day

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Speaker 2: to day basis. And as a result of that, there

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Speaker 2: are whole lot of ancillary benefits. There are jobs created,

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Speaker 2: particularly off the back of the strength of Auckland's visitor

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Speaker 2: economy in recent years, but also the work that they've

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Speaker 2: done around sectors like the screen sector for example, which

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Speaker 2: is you know, one of the key strengths and a

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Speaker 2: sector of competitive advantage for the city.

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Speaker 1: Is an organization like Tartaki Unlimited are nice to have.

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Speaker 2: No, I'd consider it's being essential and I think if

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Speaker 2: you have to look across the ditch to see that

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Speaker 2: there are similar organizations that are playing a pivotal role

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Speaker 2: helping respective states in Australia get back on their feet. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: we routinely look at Melbourne and Sydney and talk about

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Speaker 2: how well they are performing. You know that doesn't happen

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Speaker 2: by accident. They have similar agencies that are well funded

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Speaker 2: and well supported and ultimately end up ensuring that they're

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Speaker 2: generating successful and generating and delivering successful events and driving

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Speaker 2: visitation which supports their local economies.

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Speaker 1: Is this the council's responsibility though? Why can't the privates

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Speaker 1: to pick this up?

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Speaker 2: I think for a long period of time there has

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Speaker 2: been a desire and a willingness, even from within Tataki

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Speaker 2: Unlimited to look at alternative funding models, and to be

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Speaker 2: fair to them, they've done an incredible job. In recent times,

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Speaker 2: money has been hard to come by, but they've established

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Speaker 2: a fund with the private sector and they've been able

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Speaker 2: to generate around two million dollars of support to help

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Speaker 2: promote Auckland as a destination into Australia in particular. Now

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Speaker 2: I think seems a pretty clear signal that they're already

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Speaker 2: thinking about how they reduce the dependency on the ratepayer.

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Speaker 2: But I think central government also has a key role

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Speaker 2: to play. A lot of this results in increased GST take,

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Speaker 2: but at the moment, central government's not playing a pivotal

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Speaker 2: role in supporting how Auckland is performing as a sector.

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Speaker 1: Right, How could that change? What would you like to see?

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Speaker 2: I think there's a conversation to be had around whether

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Speaker 2: there's alternative funding arrangements like an accommodation levy or a

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Speaker 2: bed text if you like, which we've seen and play

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Speaker 2: in other regions and other cities around the world. Most

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Speaker 2: key wes are pretty familiar with that type of approach

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Speaker 2: to things, and a proportion of that funding can obviously

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Speaker 2: be held at a central level to potentially support development

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Speaker 2: of visitor infrastructure at a national level, but it would

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Speaker 2: be great to see some of that funding being returned

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Speaker 2: to the region. That's generated in to help stimulate demand.

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Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for your tome, appreciate it. Steve that is

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Speaker 1: Steve Armitage, the CEO of Hospitality in New Zealand.

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Speaker 2: news Talks.

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