Analysis of Challenges and Plans of the Hokitika Wildfoods Festival

In the assignment, I will reveal one of the weirdest festivals worldwide located in New Zealand. The Hokitika New Zealand Wildfoods festival represents a unique and differentiated festival model with no near equivalent in New Zealand, Australia or even worldwide. It contributes to the civic identity and cultural life of local area, delivering successfully on many of the organizers and governors’ strategic objectives. While the festival’s impacts on its host community are significant both positive and negative although it cannot be denied the profits that the Hokitika New Zealand Wildfoods festival has brought to the locals’ innovations and improvements. The challenge for the holders of the Hokitika New Zealand Wildfoods festival is to maintain the current benefits to the host community, minimise negative local impacts and enhance its programmatic model so that the heat from the festival can be preserved, developed and it is “hot” enough to engage to both domestic and international participants. Due to the festival spreading recently, it brought both various issues and positive contribution to the host community which will be revealed in this report. The assignment also mentions the detailed plan for the period of five-year action since 2017, New Zealand governors have prepared a basic preparation to spread out their unique festival to parts of the world for both domestic and international markets.

In recent years, there are many events organized to introduce local food and beverages around the world. The trend of establishment different groups and organizations of “the foodies”, food lovers, or food enthusiasts has made an international growth phenomenon, with numerous destinations worldwide attempting to approach the high-yield, special interest food tourists. In New Zealand, annually organized in Hokitika, West Coast, the Hokitika Wildfoods festival is an extravaganza of gourmet bushtucker, exploited the West Coast's natural food sources. The festival has been going for over 25 years. It actually started down in our CBD by a lady who just came up with the concept of wild food. The emphasis of this event is on novel, tasty and healthy wildfood. As well as the food and drink experience there will be continuous entertainment all afternoon. At the starting point in 1990 when the first festival was celebrated, organizers did not expect that they could attract huge crowd to the event activities. It's all to do with the window to the West Coast lifestyle the event offers. The region has long had a reputation for being the place where things are done a little differently, where the pace is slower, where the people are friendlier - qualities that are increasingly valued these days. And West Coast has been known for its wildfood over the past years. To illustrate, there are many who will only eat West Coast whitebait, claiming it doesn't taste the same when it is caught in other parts of the country, and there are plenty more products in the region's larder. Thanks to the Hokitika Wild foods Festival, these are now available to everyone, and people are coming from all over New Zealand and beyond to sample them. The Wild foods Festival grew out of a celebration of Hokitika's gold fields history when Heritage Hokitika marked the 125th anniversary of the birth of the town by opening the Quayside development on the north riverbank. The old Custom House, used in the days when the Hokitika port was the main entry to the West Coast goldfields, was a key feature of this development. Local people entered the historical spirit of the occasion, dressing in period costume and one person even arrived on a pennyfarthing bicycle. The goldfields tradition was perhaps best expressed by the appearance of one of the most famous West Coast institutions, the Kokatahi Band. Formed in 1910, the band was made up of men who had immigrated to the West Coast from all parts of the world, bringing with them a rich range of musical tradition. The Kokatahi Band has entertained at every Wildfoods Festival and will be back again next year to lend a distinctive West Coast flavour to the event. Entertainment has always been a key feature of the festival. Clowns, folk singers, buskers, skydivers and many other acts have combined to add something special to festival day. There are also cooking demonstrations from a wide range of experts and home brew competitions which feature some distinctive West Coast products. And no West Coast function would be complete without a bush dance. Festival goers love this unique local institution. Noticeably, the first Hokitika Wild foods Festival won a West Coast Tourism Award of Excellence and it was decided to turn it into an annual event. More recognition followed. The festival was a finalist in the prestigious American Express New Zealand Tourism Awards in 1991 and 1993. And the winner of the 1996 South Island's Most Unique Events Award. In 1993 the festival was taken over by the Westland District Council, and support from major sponsors Westpower, ECNZ and the West Coast brewery Monteiths have been vital to its continuance.

Branding Strategies

According to New Zealand tourism website, the Wildfoods festival appeared on the New Zealand Tourism website with an advertising content of main activities in the event like live performances of local recreations, cooking demonstrations, an amateur photography competition for attendees and prizes for the best-dressed festival attendees. While joining the Wildfoods festival, visitors have opportunity to try delights of wild food and beverages in West Coast, cookery creativity and originality of the locals. Additionally, in the 2017 – 2021 marketing plan, the primary target group of tourists is older independent domestic travellers with the time and money to spend holidays. This group of tourists is a comfortably reachable market with fairly established media habits and rapidly getting used to social media applications. Based on latest search, older domestic tourists are passionately seeking for online engagement forms that satisfy private favourites. They are more likely to sign up to mailing lists and to click on social advertising particularly on Facebook, Tiktok or Instagram. They are also an audience that is often ignore by many in the quest to influence a younger demographic. By specifically approaching older tourists and tailoring the organizers’ attempt to attract them, it is believed to have achieved the strongest return on investment.

Due to recent reports from the Hokitika New Zealand Wildfoods festival organizers, the governors have approved an official marketing activity plan for the period 2017 – 2021. Simultaneously, they also introduce their West Coast “Untamed Natural Wilderness Brand” with a slogan of “More people, more often, staying longer, spending more”. To complete the proposed goals for the next stage of development, the festival planners put an emphasis on reinforcing an emotional connection with target markets through wide advertising utilising a combination of traditional and digital media. There have been ongoing marketing campaigns up to present which comprise high quality photography, fascinating video contents, high performing campaign web pages and tight approaching on social media suiting young generations.

Contribution Analysis

The Hokitika New Zealand Wildfoods festival was invented to bring back the original traditions which have been lost speedily in the past few years. With the idea of raising the awareness from the public and tourists that many succulent wild plants and animals are actually nourish and it is possible to bring them to people daily diet instead of common meats and vegetables at present. This festival promotes its tourists to be separated from their usual ingredients which can be easily found in the supermarkets to reach their goal to relieve the dependence of popular meats and vegetables sources. Notwithstanding, there is a problem when the festival is popularized leading to the over-exploitation in wild animals and plants to meet the tourists increasing demand every year. Along with natural destructions like floods or droughts, over-exploitation directly affects to the local biodiversity and pollutions to the local environment. With the stream of tourists rush to the New Zealand for the Hokitika New Zealand Wildfoods festival and many entertainment activities during the festival, local inhabitants have to suffer noise and waste pollutions after the festival is finished.

Hokitika New Zealand Wildfoods festival organisers have to conform to MAF regulations with tourist expectations; however, the festival still maintain the core nature. For instance, before possum and rabbits can be allowed to sell to tourists, they need to be tightly monitored. The National Heart Foundation organised a competition named “Wild at Heart” to stimulate the stall holders to create healthy wildfoods . The old style from e West Coast bushman was often a lonely individual, yet, any early visitor takes the chance on his hut in the bush could be ensured that the best hospitality service would be delivered. There many articles wrote about the early treats like camp oven bread, cooked to unique and secret recipes of West Coast citizens. Hokitika New Zealand Wildfoods festival take the responsibility to keep this type of hospitality service alive and make it become a differentiated attraction to thousands of travellers every year.

The Hokitika New Zealand Wildfoods festival has experienced a dramatic growth since its inception in 1990. Beginning with a modest number of 1,800 attendees at that time, it was reported that the number was up to 10,800 people in 2012 including roughly 9,700 people especially coming for the festival, spending 2.5 days and purchasing, on average, $540 each and in 2014, there were over 15,000 participants joining in this annual festival. Based on recorded data from Business and Economic Research Ltd, in 2012, the Hokitika New Zealand Wildfoods festival contributed $6.5 million to the Westland District economy.

The Hokitika New Zealand Wildfoods festival has set their influence on the host community on both positive and negative aspects. Meanwhile, the festival is continuing to confirm its importance to regional economy both through direct and indirect path relating to the festival, from local businesses to community groups raising their income and opening opportunity for a showcase of local lifestyle. It is appraised to be a valued incentive to the host land. With the appearance and spreading of the Hokitika New Zealand Wildfoods festival, it benefits in district funds, vitalizing businesses and employment while also branding fascinating national and international attention for the region’s tourism industry. According a report, there were 54 fulltime jobs created and the festival operators could earn $5 million as a direct revenue from the festival activities and other leisure activities. On the contrary, The Hokitika New Zealand Wildfoods festival also brought negative facets involving in issues of comfort standards. To illustrate, there is too much excessive noise and antisocial or out of the control behaviours from attendees due to excessive alcohol consumption, in addition to the question about the festivals’ capacity, its security regulations and festival management system.

Conclusion

It is not hard to draw a conclusion from all above-mentioned details. There will be a tight and direct connection between tourism and other related elements including environment, local culture, community and economy. To update latest demanding expectations from tourists, festival operators, first and foremost, should respect the original values of local community and natural resources. In current time, many countries’ economies rely on tourism profits which strongly depend on the purity of native culture, beach attractions, natural scenery. For most of the travellers, wilderness is an indispensable factor for their tour, thereby tourism organizers have made wilderness become an incentive to many travel destinations around the world. There is no difference in New Zealand when the country makes an emphasis on their differentiated attraction named the Hokitika New Zealand Wildfoods festival.in this way, the festival operators has succeeded in taking advantages in well-informed traditions about wildfoods nutrition and benefits from nature to brand their festival on worldwide tourism destinations. The matter of remaining the original nature of the festival is a real challenge to organizers due to changing demands from travellers; yet, the profits from the festival are still ensured. It is suggested that the local government should step in the procedure with empowered regulations and guaranty for the festival quality, preservation of tradition and travellers’ security. Besides, there are proposal opinions that there should be more sustainable solutions applied into the festival activities in order to maximize the prevention of detrimental threats to local environment, community and the loss of biodiversity.