According to an employee of Tourism Wellington organization, she was first employed in 1995 as a part of a small group. That time, it was really a big thing marketing the capital city as a tourism destination.
During those times, the waterfront developments had begun but the Stadium and Te Papa were only a promise. A tourist actually had little to do than a Cable Car trip and a bus ride up Mount Victoria. The shops only opened 5-and-a half days a week and bars and cafes were scarce for a city. Hotels were busy Monday to Thursday with government business but occupancy was low the rest of the week.
As an employee, she said that they would promote tourism marketing a promise and would host the tourism trade and international travel journalists on construction sites wearing hardhats and steel capped gumboots, painting a picture of an interactive national museum, a world class stadium and a vibrant city full of bars, cafes and seven-day-a week trading.
Encouraging domestic tourism too was part of their job; to persuade kiwis they could have a good weekend simply by staying in a nice hotel.
Remarkably local politicians even stuck with the plan. Wellingtonians told their story regularly and consistently; building on the positive and marginalizing the flaws. Gradually, Wellington turned out to be a city worth visiting and attracted tourists from all over.
