CAMBRIDGE NEWS | 1
THURSDAY DECEMBER 14, 2023
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DECEMBER 14, 2023
An uncertain destiny By Mary Anne Gill
Destination Cambridge is crunching the numbers as it faces a double setback to its operating budget. Waipā District Council funding of $157,000 for its i-Site information job is gone from July 1 next year while the $20,000 management fee it got to take Town Hall bookings went six months ago. General manager Ruth Crampton, who is only in the job on a shortterm contract following the resignation of Miff Macdiarmid in March,
is reporting tourism in Cambridge is on the up. This is the first summer for four years when all markets can travel back to New Zealand, she says, and they are ready to pounce. She is expecting a spike in door count and website visits. In just over five months 7434 people have come through the door at its Town Hall information centre and more than 11,000 visitors a month are checking out the Cambridge website. Destination Cambridge has ruled out running the Cambridge and Te Awamutu i-Sites as one management
model. Seventy per cent of Cambridge’s visitors are from out of the region while Te Awamutu’s is 30 per cent. “The proportional concentration of tourism, accommodation and event is predominantly higher in the Cambridge area. The question should be asked if the funding models should vary given the economic benefit of visitors to the region and the higher percentage of visitors being handled by Cambridge i-Site,” a submission to the council by chair Lucy Young says.
The organisation has sought alternative revenue streams - recently penning a services contract with Rural Tours for farm stays and offering retail sales of Cambridge and New Zealand gifts. But it also faces having to pay rent for the first time of about $34,000 a year to the Cambridge Town Hall Trust. In its financial statements till the end of June this year, Destination Cambridge recorded a deficit of $36,000, dipping into its savings to make ends meet. It retained general funds of nearly $129,000.
Destination Cambridge chair Lucy Young
If there are no other funding options, Destination Cambridge’s future post
2025 looks uncertain. • Tough calls begin – See Page 7
Open for schooling
A new bishop
Cambridge High School’s $12 million plus block opened this week. Steph Bell Jenkins was there – and took this photo of principal Greg Thornton (left) discussing the exterior art with its creator, Eugene Kara. See more pics and Steph’s story starting on Page 14 today.
Waipā parish priests Leonard Danvers of St Peter’s in Cambridge, right, and his Te Awamutu counterpart Joe Stack of St Patrick’s (obscured) were part of the ceremony to ordain the new Hamilton Catholic Diocese Catholic bishop Richard Laurenson, centre, at the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Friday. Photo: Deearn Strawbridge. See Mary Anne Gill’s report from the event on page 5 today.
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