Tourism & Urban Development: Building Local …...Tourism & Urban Development: Building...

Tourism & Urban Development:

Building Local Economies & Sense of Place - Greenwoods Corner -

Simon Milne, Ulrich Speidel, Carolyn Deuchar, Suzanne Histen,

Romy Fischer, Cassandra Rakei

Key themes

We need jobs and strong communities – Visitors have a role to play

How do you attract and manage visitors? – Information is vital (signage, Internet)

Slow travel – Enhance opportunities for interaction

Network enterprises and destinations – “We’re all in this together”

Community support and engagement is essential, tourism must sustain and enhance local quality of life – “Communities will work for tourism if tourism works for

communities”

Source: areeweb.polito.it/didattica/chimica/images

A traditional way of slowing tourists down

Add to the experience … ???

Source: Stuart Dredge (www.techdigest.tv)

Or give them some information on road …

Source: Interislander (www.interislander.co.nz/Our-Ships-And-Services/Kaitaki/iSITE.aspx)

Better still, give visitors the information they need before, during and after travel and ‘connect’ them as they travel …

Source: LPHS (www.lphs.school.nz)

‘Local’ matters …

National and regional marketing and development (top-down) need to be supported by local content, information and collaboration (bottom-up)

Local stories and knowledge enhance the competitiveness and uniqueness of communities, destinations and nations (the fabric)

Interactive tourists require interactive communities

Online Experience – Approach

INTE

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60 results

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… little results found

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Photograph with map showing

Greenwoods Corner

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Online Experience – Summary International Level

www.google.com

Good links to

restaurants and cafés with many results shown on Google Maps

www.wikipedia.com

No listings in

Wikipedia

Links are irrelevant

www.yahoo.com Good links,

including facebook page

Good links to blogs with positive comments

Good potential in links that can attract visitors, however more information on the history of Greenwoods

Corner is encouraged

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Online Experience – Summary National Level

www.newzealand.com

Common categories do not provide information on Greenwoods Corner

No results when searching ‘Greenwoods Corner’

www.nz.com

One result for Greenwoods Corner, but link is inactive

Greenwoods Corner is invisible on a national level

REG

ION

AL

Greenwoods Corner is not mentioned in

any of the main

categories

Links shown are not related to Greenwoods Corner

REG

ION

AL

Greenwoods Corner has no

listings for shopping areas

REG

ION

AL

2 results when searching

‘Greenwoods Corner’

REG

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AL

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Online Experience – Summary Regional Level

www.aucklandnz.com

Greenwoods Corner is not featured in any list (e.g. ‘Where to go’ or ‘What to do’)

Dining options link to

different areas Little found in listings for

‘Shopping’ search

www.aucklandcity.govt.nz

Relatively few results when searching ‘Greenwoods Corner’

Based on the information provided on the regional level, a visitor will most likely not be led to Greenwoods Corner

All restaurants are in the area

Good star ratings

REG

ION

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Online Experience – Summary National Level

www.viewauckland.co.nz

Good links to surrounding restaurants

Positive customer reviews

Restaurants have websites

www.menus.co.nz

Good list of restaurants in area

Excellent star ratings

Needs more ratings for other restaurants

www.aucklandrestaurants.net

One listing for Greenwoods Corner, however the link does not work

The same three restaurants pop up in search engines. Based on their websites and customer reviews a person can

be convinced to visit these.

Link to YouTube

REG

ION

AL

Suggests Greenwoods Corner

Has links for other websites

REG

ION

AL

Online Experience – Regional Level

Good blog with pictures in

‘Short walks’

Suggests Greenwoods Corner

Good results for restaurants

Links with other restaurants

www.walkinauckland.com www.yellow.co.nz

The impression for good food and restaurants as well as the strong link to One Tree Hill continues for Greenwoods Corner

Videos of train and bush walk

SO

CIA

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ETW

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Suggests Greenwoods

Corner

Only found this link from Short Walks

website

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ORKS

Facebook page

SO

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ETW

ORKS

SO

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ORKS

Linkages between local businesses

SO

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ORKS

TWO Facebook pages!!

Twitter page

SO

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ETW

ORKS

Greenwoods Corner has shown a good start utilising social media networks

Two facebook pages with some activity and pictures from local businesses

Online Experience – Summary Social Media

Links are to different places

Little useful

information for a visitor

Good start with Twitter page, but only 1 tweet in January

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Over 60 volunteers!

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In a nutshell

Greenwoods Corner presents a strong sense of community and

historical significance to One Tree Hill Things to do in Greenwoods Corner are mainly connected to

One Tree Hill

The impression of good restaurants and cafés is continuous in the online experience

Greenwoods Corner shows a good start to utilising website media and social networks

Some online linkages are made, but it is with the same 3

restaurants throughout the internet

Onsite Experience from a visitor’s perspective

Onsite Experience – Sense of Place

Onsite Experience

Visitors feel welcome from the moment they enter Greenwoods Corner

Identification of local businesses with the area seems to be very strong

“It felt like being amongst a family”

Great diversity of shops compared to the area’s size

Attention is also drawn towards One Tree Hill

Sense of Place

Onsite Experience – Local information

Onsite Experience

Main things to do in the area are browsing through shops and passing

time in cafés

Events in Greenwoods Corner and surrounding suburbs are being promoted by shops and the community notice board

Good overview of the area’s history is provided

Difficulties to find signage leading a visitor to One Tree Hill

Events and Activities

Onsite Experience – Transport & Directions

Onsite Experience

Getting to Greenwoods Corner from CBD with public transport is fairly

easy with bus stops stating ‘Greenwoods Corner’

An excellent amount of FREE off-street car parks in the middle and side streets of Greenwoods Corner

Good signage for public facilities

Considering the branding relationship of Greenwoods Corner with One Tree Hill there was a lack of signage that directed visitors to access points for One Tree Hill

Transport and Directions

Onsite Experience – Local Businesses

Onsite Experience

A high level of service and quality of food is visible

Staff at local businesses were talkative and very friendly

The linkage between shops is noticeable through member signs

A strong sense of pride and detail is felt from each store

Many long-established businesses whose owners can tell interesting stories

Local Businesses

A WAY FORWARD?

Mile End, Montreal

Many internal links to retrieve further information

Interesting information on the history and a good number of attractive pictures

Many references and external links

Local residents offer guided tours to visitors

The Montréal equivalent to aucklandnz.com

Searching ‘Mile End’ leads to a good number of diverse results

Phase 1

Identify

What’s on the Web?

Enhance

How can these online resources be better linked?

Meet

Bring a group of key individuals/stakeholders together to improve and enhance existing web linkages and resources

A low-cost option with immediate outcomes

Optimize existing resources Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5 Phase 2

Phase 2

Optimize existing resources

Build human capital (skills, local capacity)

Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5

Create

Train

A group of people who can work to improve the web presence (on-line visibility) and also onsite information

Local linkers and influencers

Phase 3

Help

Enable the area to better understand its visitors and what they think of the experience of visiting Greenwoods Corner

Uncover

Find ways to support visitors to grow a relationship with Greenwoods Corner (information provision is key)

Lay the foundation for a decision-support system

Optimize existing resources

Decision-support Phase 4 Phase 5

Build human capital (skills, local capacity)

Phase 4

Develop

Build on and develop themed trails, walks and activities, e.g. art, food, history

Build links to more individuals/stakeholders

Optimize existing resources

Themed trails, meanders and

activities Phase 5 Decision-

support Build human capital (skills, local capacity)

Phase 5

Optimize existing resources

Collecting ‘our stories’

Decision- support

Build human capital (skills, local capacity)

Themed trails, meanders and

activities

Engage

Sustained web-raising, community-generated digital content, stories, tips for travellers, local knowledge, traditional knowledge (e.g. biodiversity)

Auckland’s ‘fabric’

Thank you for your time

www.nztri.org

cdeuchar@aut.ac.nz