A profile of visitors to Lake Waikaremoana, Te Urewera National Park.
Click here for full copy of the report.
Sun on Lake Waikaremoana
Visitors to Lake Waikaremoana
We surveyed 191 visitors to Lake Waikaremoana, a remote area in Te Urewera National Park. Lake Waikaremoana has few established tourism services but significant tourist flows and mostly domestic tourists visit. Most of the people living round the lake are Māori . Lake Waikaremoana thus provided a case study that could help us understand demand for tourism in isolated rural areas and to look at opportunities for the development of tourism and Māori tourism experiences in these areas.
Who visits?
domestic visitors made up 76% of the sample. They came mostly from Auckland, Gisborne, Wellington and Tauranga. International visitors made up 24% of the sample and came mostly from the UK and Germany.
Of the 191 respondents surveyed, 11 reported they were Māori and a further 3 reported that their spouse or partner and children were.
The age profile of visitation during Week 1 (January) suggests a family holiday destination with a large number of visitors of school age and of ‘parent age’. In Week 2 (February) the people we spoke to were older, with a large proportion of the visitors being over 50.
Analysis revealed three distinct groupings of visitors:
- Discovering visitors are mostly new to the area. They value exploring new areas, and show little in the way of personal connection to this particular destination.
- Familiar visitors have been to the area once or twice before, or are travelling with people who had been to the area before. They have more experience or knowledge of the area than the discovering visitors but most still show little personal connection to the area.
- Attached visitors show strong connections to the area and most have visited numerous times (mean visits = 40). When talking about visit motivations they often speak of their connection to the area rather than of the physical attributes of the area itself.
We have also surveyed visitors in Totoranui in the South Island and have found similar groups there. After talking to people informally, we think that these three types of visitors are typical in many remote holiday areas around the country.
How do visitors travel?
All visitors to Lake Waikaremoana came by road with 82% of respondents coming in private vehicles and the remaining 18% coming in rental vehicles. Some visitors appeared to find the conditions of the roads in the Lake Waikaremoana area (often unsealed, narrow and winding) difficult. The most commonly mentioned disincentive to repeat visitation was the length, difficulty and cost of the journey. Improved provision and marketing of transport services (both to access the region and within it) may help to increase visitor numbers, satisfaction and participation in dispersed activities.
Lake Waikaremoana Motor Camp
However, a number of respondents asserted that the difficulty involved in accessing the region helped preserve its natural and peaceful character. Those respondents who did not want to see improvements made to the roads tended to be attached visitors. Thus any developments in the region may result in changes in the type, as well as numbers, of visitors present. Further work to determine the impact of road quality, distance and visitor characteristics on destination, route choice and length of stay would be useful.
Popular pre visit destinations were Napier, Rotorua, Havelock North, Wairoa, Gisborne and Hastings. There may be opportunities for marketing activities in these areas. Understanding the flow of tourists through the Lake Waikaremoana region could assist local businesses to capitalise on opportunities to attract tourists into the area and into their businesses.
Where do visitors stay?
More than half the visitors surveyed were staying in the Lake Waikaremoana Motor Camp, the largest single accommodation facility in the area. There is a match between the accommodation currently available in the area and the accommodation types preferred by current visitors. Visitors did not appear to be staying in accommodation they would not otherwise choose in order to be able to access the region. However, the extent to which other groups of visitors are put off visiting because their preferred types of accommodation are unavailable is unclear.
Why do people visit?
Recommendations from others (person, guidebook, brochure) was the reason discovering visitors most frequently gave for visiting. Prior experience was the most frequent reason that repeat and habitual visitors reported.
The natural environment was given as a motivation by 39% of the sample, 34% reported coming for some kind of activity (e.g., tramping, hunting, fishing and boating), and 24% reported coming to meet up with others. Respondents who planned to return most commonly wanted to do more walking or tramping in the area.
Where do people get their information about the area?
For discovering visitors, guide books were the most popular source of information used while planning their trip. Recommendations from family and friends, information centres, the internet and brochures were also frequently used. Familiar visitors and attached visitors used fewer information sources to plan their visits but when they did seek out information they used similar sources to those used by discovering visitors.
International and domestic visitors used information sources differently:
- 45 of the 46 visitors who had not used any information sources were domestic visitors.
- Only one international visitor reported using no information sources.
What do visitors do in the area?
87 percent of respondents reported doing some walking or tramping while in the area making these the most popular activities amongst visitors. Over half the sample said they would spend time swimming and relaxing. Other activities included scenic driving, fishing, and boating or kayaking.
Kayaking Lake Waikaremoana
What opportunities are there for tourist businesses?
As well as asking visitors what they did in the area the surveyors asked them what they might be interested in doing if other activities were available. While independent activities appeared more popular than guided activities, there may be scope to offer some guiding services in the area. Domestic visitors appeared more attracted to guided activities than did international visitors, and women more so than men.
Some activities have repeat appeal while others are seen as novel, new or one-off opportunities. The characteristics of a product will help determine whether it is most suitable for discovering visitors or whether, for example, attached visitors might become repeat purchasers.
Few visitors to Lake Waikaremoana had made activity bookings before arriving in the region. This means there may be scope for at-destination marketing. Younger visitors and discovering visitors seemed to have the most flexible travel itineraries. It may be possible to encourage these visitors to change their plans, and even extend their stay, once they have arrived at Lake Waikaremoana. Individuals who said they had an interest in guided activities use few information sources when planning their trips so at-destination marketing may be effective for guided activities that are relatively short (<1 day) in duration. Longer guided trips that run in the area rely on bookings before people arrive in the area and people actually on guided trips in the area did not appear in this sample. For small businesses wanting to engage in en-route marketing it may be worth producing a brochure or poster between several operators for display at information centres around the region.
Responses suggest the opportunity to see a new place may be an important reason for trips to this region, particularly for discovering visitors. Operators may be able to capitalise on this through facilitating access to the more remote parts of the region. Attached visitors appear more attracted by the nature of an activity rather than its location.
Visitors in our survey did not know or understand what to expect from Māori tourism products – for example international visitors did not understand the term “marae” and domestic visitors saw marae as places for large organised groups only. Businesses offering products of which tourists may not be familiar with need to pay special attention to the information they provide so that visitors understand what is being offered.
Back to Growing Regional Māori Tourism Page
Comments and feedback on this Growing Regional Māori Tourism site are welcomed and should be directed to Helen Fitt
(Email 
).