Canterbury tourism reviving but commercial accommodation still tight
- Details
- Published Date
Several other areas of the region were also hard hit.
Few Christchurch residents would have been unaffected, as their homes, businesses, jobs and schools suffered damage. Thousands left the city and the psychological scars in many cases will never entirely heal. Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) sub-national population estimates showed the number of people in Christchurch falling by 4600 in the year to June 2012. Depression, anxiety and stress became common.
That second quake killed 185 people from more than 20 countries – 80 of whom were listed as visiting, rather than residing in Christchurch. Infrastructure was badly affected; commercial accommodation capacity was reduced by half.
The region's tourism industry was badly hit. It is officially estimated that at any one time prior to the February earthquake, there would have been between 24,000 to 33,000 overnight visitors in the Canterbury region, with as many as 12,000 international visitors in Christchurch city itself.
The city's biggest hotel, the 26-storey Hotel Grand Chancellor was crippled during the February 22 quake and had to be demolished, as were several other central city hotels.
The number of international visitors dropped by almost 30 per cent in the aftermath.
Understandably, most casual visitors kept away from Christchurch but it would have been difficult to find somewhere to stay anyway. While most motels and home-stays were able to carry on, as they were mainly in areas outside the heavily damaged 'red zone,' with the central city in lockdown and the convention centre, town hall and Jade Stadium too badly damaged to use, many reasons to go to Christchurch for pleasure were largely gone, especially when the risk of another quake was considered. With inner city hotels such as the new Marque (now Rendezvous) in the closed CBD and too damaged to accept guests, the city's visitor nights plunged.
Normalcy returns
Of course, everyone knew that given time, the myriads of frightening aftershocks would lessen and life would begin to return to normal, but for many, it must have seemed as though that was taking an eternity. So when a prominent global travel guide's published a ringing endorsement of Christchurch in October, it was a welcome bolt from the blue – described by tourism operators as: "worth its weight in gold."
Lonely Planet placed the city in sixth spot on its list of top 10 cities for its 2013 Best in Travel guide. Christchurch was the only New Zealand city to make the list, winning praise for its "new energy and inventiveness." Lonely Planet said: "The recovery effort is well under way and 2013 will be an intriguing year to join the rebirth of this proud southern city."
International Antarctic Centre manager Nicki Sare was reported as saying that the endorsement from the "huge" tourism publication would show people outside Christchurch that the city was ready to receive travellers. Christchurch International Airport chief executive Jim Boult said the news was "enormously exciting" for the city.
House building is expected to surge from mid-year. Christchurch can expect to see a spike of 20,000 new houses built in the next five years, some related to earthquake rebuilding and others to an economic recovery. That is nearly double the number of houses that would typically be built in five years. Up to 600 Irish and British workers are expected to flock to Christchurch over the six months from December. Three hundred workers are needed immediately in Christchurch, with hundreds more expected to arrive from Europe by mid-year. Hundreds of Irish and British people have already arrived for the rebuild. Thousands of New Zealands trades people seeking work are also likely to move into the Christchurch area.
So where are all these workers and their families going to stay and how will the city cope with the expected rise in tourists?
The situation has been eased somewhat by the September reopening of one of the city centre's largest high-rise hotels. The eight-storey Ibis hotel on Hereford St stood up well in the earthquakes, with only minor damage. A refurbishment and strengthening programme has freed up a much-needed 155 hotel rooms in the central city.
But a large proportion of the Ibis will be taken up with itinerant construction workers, engineers and architects coming here to work on the multi-billion dollar rebuild. Garth Simmons, Accor's VP New Zealand, accepts a "significant amount" of rooms will cater for rebuild crews, but hopes the tourists will also start to return.
"Christchurch was a major feeder into South Island tourism, and that is what has been lacking over the last year. The hotel will go a long way to re-establishing those connections," Mr Simmons said.
"It will also form a base for the reconstruction of the city, and we see a significant amount of that happening, but tourism is our main business. As a company, we are committed to the success and revitalisation of Christchurch and will focus all our resources on the city moving forward..."
The Ibis, built in 2007, withstood the shakes well, as it was designed to do, Mr Simmons said. Accor's other major hotel in the city, the 14 storey Novotel Christchurch, is due to reopen in August, bringing another 154 rooms back into play. Simmons said that guests will also find the hotels fully refurbished:
"Both of the hotels were relatively new – the Ibis was built in 2007 and the Novotel opened in January 2010 – so they were built to very exacting standards and their structures received only minor damage during the earthquakes. The main problems were internal and required a complete re-fit of both hotels, so when they re-open they'll have a very fresh and new feel to them."
The Warners Hotel wing of the Novotel had to be demolished with the loss of 40 rooms, but the new part of the hotel survived the impact very well, despite being located right in the heart of Cathedral Square, he said.
The former Marque Hotel in Gloucester St will welcome guests as the rebranded Rendezvous Hotel Christchurch from mid-April. The hotel occupies 15 storeys of the 22-storey Pacific Tower, which needed only minor structural repairs after the earthquakes. The building was completed in 2011 and engineered to withstand large quakes.
"Apart from cracking in the internal plasterboard walls and external cladding, which are not structural, the hotel has come through all the quakes but has been closed because of its location within the cordoned CBD," hotel general manager Brad Watts said. All repair work was scheduled to be completed by the end of February.
Space in the market
Specialist hotel architect Richard Dalman lives in Christchurch where his company Dalman Architecture is based. He is involved in a number of hotel and backpacker repairs and new builds. He has also contributed to a study for the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) on the potential cost and demand for new hotels in the city. Mr Dalman believes that while most of the remaining hotels will be repaired, not all of those demolished will be rebuilt – leaving space in the market for hotel companies without a current presence in the city to move in.
Every day, there are added reasons for tourists to return. Restaurants, bars and cafés are slowly clawing their way back to pre-earthquake levels. By early December, more than 543 cafes, restaurants and bars were open in the city – about half the number open before the quakes.
Research by University of Canterbury senior marketing lecturer Sussie Morrish found 22 per cent of the restaurants were in the central city, while 24 per cent were in the western suburbs, especially Riccarton and surrounding areas.
Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism chief executive Tim Hunter says that international visitor numbers have finally turned the corner after a 20 month decline in arrivals. "Asian arrivals have been especially strong this summer and the Australia holiday market that was seriously put off by the long sequence of aftershock activity has started to return.
"There has been strong interest from international travellers in the earthquake story and a range of new tours telling that story have become very popular," he said. "Christchurch Museum's Earthquake City Exhibition has been a great hit with both locals and visitors and does an excellent job of explaining the science of earthquakes, catching the drama of the event and outlining the exciting plans to rebuild the central city. Current visitors are captivated by the new Restart shopping mall built from shipping containers and the fabulous urban renewal 'Gap Filler' project to creatively dress empty spaces with weird and whacky art forms and activities," Mr Hunter said.
But he warns that although Christchurch has more than 9,000 commercial beds available for visitors, there is still not enough capacity at peak travel periods to cater for all demand.
"This means that travellers are having to use a broader range of accommodation of the city and that hosting conferences and tour groups in Christchurch remains difficult."
Photo: Tourists visit the ReStart shopping precint, built of shipping sontainers on the site of the destroyed Cashel Mall.
