Building Local Economies & Sense of Place - Sandringham - Simon - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Tourism & Urban Development: Building Local Economies & Sense of Place

• Sandringham -

Simon Milne, Ulrich Speidel, Carolyn Deuchar, Suzanne Histen, Romy Fischer, Cassandra Rakei, Doris Bell

Key themes

• We need jobs and strong communities

– Visitors have a role

• How do you attract and manage visitors?

– Information is vital (signage, Internet)

• 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”

• ‘Slow travel’

– Enhance opportunities for interaction

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 and destinations (the fabric)

• Interactive tourists require interactive communities

Online Experience – Approach

Sandringham is not featured in these categories

• A good number of events listed for Auckland
• Unfortunately, filtering events that take

place in Sandringham is not possible

Online Experience – Summary National Level

www.newzealand.com

• The common categories

do not provide information

• n Sandringham
• Search for ‘Sandringham’

brings up some results, but does not inform about what to do in the area

www.nz.com

• The common categories do

not provide information on Sandringham

• Search for ‘Sandringham’
• nly leads to links that do

not work

• Filtering events taking place

in Sandringham is not possible

Sandringham is invisible on a national level

Sandringham is not mentioned

Sandringham is not listed in any category

Online Experience – Summary Regional Level

www.aucklandnz.com

• Sandringham is not featured

in the common categories (e.g. ‘Where to go’)

• Some information about

dining could be retrieved (sense of Sandringham’s multicultural side)

www.aucklandcity.govt.nz

• Information on Sandringham

is generally hard to find

• Sandringham’s unique feature

(Indian influence) is just briefly mentioned

• Search mainly leads to results
• f interest for residents
• Interesting heritage walk

Some interesting information can be found, but a ‘sense of place’ is just barely conveyed

• Information provided does not draw a

visitor to visit Sandringham

• However, a sense of community involvement

is conveyed

Unfortunately, there is no similar walk in Sandringham

• More than 160

businesses are listed at localfoot.co.nz

• Provides address

and Google Street View image

• Does not link

to company’s websites

More external links to obtain detailed background information would be helpful

Online Experience

Google

• Search for ‘Sandringham’

yields to Wikipedia article, maps of the area, community sites and local businesses

Wikipedia

• Article provides interesting

details about Sandringham’s history, landmarks and recreation opportunities

• Few internal and no external

links

Portals arouse a potential visitor’s interest in Sandringham, but more links to background information would be helpful

Sandringham is virtually invisible on Social Media platforms

• A Facebook user

cannot retrieve helpful information

Online Experience – Summary Social Media

• Little useful

information for potential visitors are provided

• Very few tweets

about Sandringham

• Website has a local

focus

• Interesting

insight into what Sandringham’s residents are actively involved in

• Creates a sense of

a strong, lively community

Unfortunately, local businesses do not link back to the Sandringham Business Association

Onsite Experience: a visitor’s perspective

Onsite Experience – Sense of Place

Onsite Experience

• Sandringham IS the spice capital of Auckland
• Sense of a multicultural, lively community within a nice neighbourhood
• Old buildings along the shopping area arouse a visitor’s interest
• Identification of local businesses seems to be with either Eden Park or

Sandringham

• Nestled in between some of Auckland’s highest volcanoes

Sense of Place

Onsite Experience – Events & Activities

Onsite Experience

• Main things to do in the area are shopping and passing time in cafés
• Many parks, playgrounds and little hideaways to meander
• Lots of events “from the community, for the community”, but many are

also of interest for visitors (markets, quiz nights at pubs)

• However, finding information on events is rather difficult

Events and Activities

Onsite Experience – Transport & Directions

Onsite Experience

• Getting to Sandringham from CBD with public transport is fairly easy
• Lacks signage that is leading a visitor to the main shopping area
• Unfortunately, there is no background information provided at sites of

interest (e.g. Gribblehirst Park, old buildings in the shopping area)

• Information on heritage walk could not be found onsite

Transport and Directions

Onsite Experience – Local Businesses

Onsite Experience

• A great place to buy spices, exotic food and takeaways
• Although some shops appear run-down from the outside, they are real

gems on the inside

• Surprising numbers of nice cafés that invite visitors to spend time
• Staff at local businesses were talkative and very friendly
• There are no obvious linkage between local businesses e.g. ‘village

feel’ could be strengthened

Local Businesses

A WAY FORWARD?

Mile End, Montreal

Many references and external links

Local residents offer guided tours to visitors

The main street even has its own website

The Wikipedia article

• f Mile End’s main

street contains detailed information and many internal as well as external links

The Montréal equivalent to aucklandnz.com

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

Searching for Mile End’s main street also yields to many results

Phase 1

Identify What’s on the Web? Enhance How can these

• nline 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 Sandringham Uncover Find ways to support visitors to grow a relationship with Sandringham (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

simon.milne@aut.ac.nz