4 April 2007

Wellington Visitor Centre moves down town

The Department of Conservation’s Wellington Visitor Centre is attracting a 10-fold increase in visitors after relocating from old Government Buildings to the shop frontage of the recently-opened Conservation House in the Manners Street.

“It’s a bit like driving out of a small suburban street and onto State highway one,” remarked DOC’s Poneke area manager Rob Stone at the recent official opening of the new centre in Wellington’s busy central business district.

Tourism NZ general manager of tourism development David Wilks said visitor centres were important to peoples’ experience of New Zealand.

"More and more the landscape isn't enough, visitors are looking for real experiences and the stories that bind the landscape and people together."

The centre moved from temporary premises in Manners Street to its new location last month after vacating old Government buildings last December, to make conservation and recreation information more accessible to a wider range of people. It is now attracting between 300 and 500 visitors a day.

Featuring national and local attractions and information, the new centre offers more than 300 titles of visitor information brochures, along with maps, tramping books and a wide range of conservation inspired products.

Huge maps of the Wellington and Nelson Marlborough regions adorn the walls, six monitors display conservation and recreation information, and there is a display on mountain safety.
People can book there to visit Kapiti Island and stay in the booked huts in the Rimutaka Forest Park. And they can access the DOC website to make online bookings for the Milford, Kepler, Routeburn, Heaphy and Abel Tasman Coast Tracks.

There is display space near the front door to promote events and conservation and recreation issues and sites. World heritage areas, camping and tramping, predator control, are among planned display topics, along with national events such as Seaweek, Conservation Week, World Wetlands Day and Arbor Day. Otari Wilton’s Bush was among the first exhibitors with a display promoting last month’s Otari BioBlitz when, over 24 hours, teams of scientists counted as many species as possible in living in the city reserve and forest area.

“Our window display space can be used not only for DOC initiatives and promotions but by our associates as well, to promote important conservation and recreation messages,” Mr Stone said.

He acknowledged the huge amount of work that had gone into the design, preparation and construction of the new centre, which would be an asset for the community as a whole.

ENDS

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