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29 July 2003 Hokitika Wildfoods Festival Review Recommends Strategies for Future

Hokitika township, South Island, New Zealand. Photo from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hokitika_Township.jpg

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Date29th July 2003Lincoln University

The "icon event" status of Hokitika's Wildfoods Festival within New Zealand's events industry has been confirmed by a Lincoln University review of the festival carried out for the Westland District Council.

Lincoln's Professor of Tourism, David Simmons, who led the review project, said that the unique concept, increasing attendances (22,500 in 2003) and high level of visitor satisfaction, determined from surveys at the 2003 Festival, all confirmed that it was a very successful event from both a community fundraising perspective and as a generator of increased tourism activity during the Festival weekend.

A 40% increase in attendances since 2000 has in fact created many of the concerns raised by Council and which led to the review taking place.

Following extensive research and consultation with residents, stallholders, visitors and community services, the project team has recommended three key strategies. These are designed to ensure that the Festival can meet its core objectives over the longer term and continue to be a successful event for the foreseeable future. Additional leverage of the Wildfoods concept throughout the year is recommended as a key tourism marketing tool.

Primarily the objective is to retain the current concept and:

Maintain a strong focus on the core event ("Wildfoods") held in Cass Square.
Incorporate year-long added value events and business opportunities.
Integrate all events over a "Festival Weekend" within a single Festival management structure.

Key changes proposed by the project team and included in a comprehensive Business and Marketing Plan are:

Reducing congestion, provide more seating and shaded areas, as well as improving access around the Cass Square site for the comfort of the visitors. The report has recommended no 'on-day' ticket sales, and a slight reduction in overall tickets to 16,000. This is the same number as four years ago.
Boost the management structure of the Festival to ensure that all activities at the Festival Weekend are the responsibility of the Festival Manager. This will include management of the activities as well as security and rubbish collection in the town.
Implement a series of bylaws that will encourage camping at formally designated sites, close certain streets to increase pedestrian safety, designate some areas 'alcohol free'.
Work with local hotels to minimise the sale of liquor in bottles and the use of glass containers.
Increase the ticket price to $20 and develop more targeted marketing strategies.
Develop activities/events to encourage people to stay longer on the Sunday following the Festival, reducing the traffic congestion leaving Hokitika.

In addition, it is proposed that the strong brand (Wildfoods) be utilised in developing additional events and business opportunities outside the Festival Weekend. In this way there is potential to use the association of the Festival to develop events and possibly more permanent activities to encourage visitors to Hokitika/Westland throughout the year. This will increase the year-long economic benefits to the district.

An extensive communication strategy will be developed to inform existing stallholders, sponsors and potential visitors of the proposed changes and the additional benefits the Festival Weekend will provide.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand

David Simmons, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand

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29 July 2003 Hokitika Wildfoods Festival Review Recommends Strategies for Future