Historian and heritage marketing consultant | Helping businesses use history to captivate hearts and move minds
Sad to see another heritage building being lost to an apartment development. While I understand the desperate need for more housing, losing these places has big downstream costs not only culturally, but also economically. Heritage tourism is worth an incredible $950b a year globally and growing. I couldn’t find an exact number for New Zealand but let’s say it’s a conservative 25% of our tourism market, that’s still over $10b a year. Cultural and built heritage is a big reason people visit places like Wellington and Dunedin, especially older (and wealthier) travellers who are no longer so game for bungy jumping and whitewater rafting. Why would they continue to visit - and spend - in our cities if they look like every other small city in the western world? I’m working with a couple of heritage hospitality venues at the moment where the owners have invested significantly in restoration, giving new life and purpose to spaces that might otherwise be leveled or left to go derelict. To their credit, the owners see this as a kind of public good, a way of giving something back to their cities and communities. But they’re also business people and they recognise very clearly that unique places are a big drawcard for tourists and locals alike. In a tough hospitality market, having that little something that makes you stand out from the rest - the quirky spaces and stories every heritage building has to tell - can make all the difference when it comes to keeping the doors open. I fully support the need to increase housing supply, and agree that increasing urban and suburban density is likely the best way to do this (I’ve voted this way in local body elections). But surely we can find a better way than sacrificing our heritage, which isn’t just culturally destructive, it’s economically stupid. #heritage #tourism #hospitality
