South Island Destination Management Plan Development for Sustainable Tourism

The Canterbury Mayoral Forum is working with other South Island Forums of Mayors and Chairs to develop a South Island destination management plan that will: � complement visitor attraction activity with co-ordinated destination management, to ensure sustainable South Island tourism � benefit both visitors and host communities i.e.

the economic value of tourism to communities, and maintain a �social licence to operate� within our own communities � leverage government investment in infrastructure through relevant funding programmes i.e. Provincial Growth Fund and Tourism Infrastructure Fund.

The purpose of this project is to: - develop a South Island visitor destination management plan that: - recognises how domestic and international visitors flow through all our regions - identifies the infrastructure and attractions we need to cater for current and projected visitor flows - establishes agreed priorities for local and central government infrastructure investment - ensures that tourism, and the infrastructure provided for visitors and host communities, benefits our communities and maintains a �social licence to operate� - leverage this plan to secure additional central government investment in infrastructure to support sustainable South Island tourism.

There are three key areas of focus: - destination management and the impact of tourism on host communities - initiatives to support visitor dispersal and interregional flows, improve the spread of visitation across the year (reduce seasonality), and ensure positive visitor experiences, which may include identifying scope for additional visitor attractions - investment in infrastructure to support sustainable tourism.

Please refer to attachments - noting that relevant dates on the RFP document were not updated prior to publishing and releasing RFP. Dates as follows: Final date for questions from potential suppliers - 10 January 2019 with responses by 14 January. Closing date for applications - now 23 January 2019