Tourism plan to aim for balance

Press, 22 August 1989, Page 8

Tourism plan to aim for balance

A plan setting ground rules to balance the tourism industry’s requirements against the need to protect Canterbury’s natural resources will be presented to the Canterbury United Council on August 30. The plan will be part of the Canterbury Regional Planning Scheme. It will state that some parts of Canterbury could experience a 50 per cent increase in tourism and recreation development over the next 20 years, according to official forecasts. “The high country, Banks Peninsula and central Christchurch will be most affected by pressures for recreation and tourism development and steps need to be taken now to project environmental values,” says a statement from the coun-

cil. The plan will call for tourism benefits to be spread throughout, the region and not just Christchurch. It advocates national marketing strategies that will encourage visitors into rural areas as well as the main resort destinations. Christchurch’s “Garden City” image was popular with tourists but was not enough to keep them in the city, or significantly increase the proportion of overseas travellers stopping off. "Christchurch needs a unique attraction, together with a number of ‘things we must see or do,’ to complement the attractions it already has. “There are opportunities for Christchurch to play a part in, and benefit from, tourism packages to Antarctica,” the plan says.