Tourism, yes - casino, no

The first mayoral campaign Q&A session was hosted at the Wellington Hospitality Association AGM. I took this opportunity to say how much the hospitality industry contributes to the culinary capital for residents and visitors alike! There are many hospitality jobs locally, from chef to waiter, bartender to washer-up.

We discussed support for tourism initiatives that keep people here longer - a longer visit means less carbon per dollar spent! One was The Great Harbour Way, our seaside version of the Otago Rail Trail, and Positively Wellington Tourism's good promotion "Wellington on a Plate" with 65 events in the traditionally quiet month of August. Focussing on local food, artisan cooking and a range of cuisines reminds locals and visitors alike that Wellington is a great place to eat - especially useful in bad weather when our wonderful outdoors is marginally less appealing.

Whether there should be a casino caused some debate. I stand by my views at the last Council debate in 2002 - a casino can cause some social problems and the economic effect is to suck money away from smaller local businesses. The discretionary dollar can be more productively and enjoyably spent!

I shared my view that a big new convention centre is not good expenditure. While we have a number of domestic conferences, big international ones are rare. We also need to work through the Council merger of St James, State Opera, Town Hall, TSB arena, Shed 6 and Michale Fowler Centre first. Cooperation with other venues and hotels as well as healthy competition should mean we can aggregate venues across the city given Wellington is so compact.

I even got a great question about light rail to the airport - from someone from Karori I'd never met. Which just goes to show, Wellingtonians from across the city are beginning to realise how light rail will improve economic prospects for all of us, not just the businesses and communities in the light rail corridor.