Te Puke retailers will get a chance to cash in on the benefits of having cruise ship passengers in town.

Kiwifruit Country Tours Ltd, which hosts thousands of cruise ship passengers on kiwifruit-themed excursions that also take in Māori cultural experiences, is putting the town on the map as one of the stops on some excursions.

KCT owner former All Black Graeme Crossman presented his plans last week, saying the stop-offs would give cruise ship passengers the chance to experience small-town New Zealand.

KCT operates 10 to 12 different excursions for cruise ship passengers. They variously visit The Elms and Tauranga Historic Village, kiwifruit orchards, marae and Maketū. Most buses also stop at Paengaroa Community Hall, where a temporary retail precinct is set up and there’s a chance to sample and buy products.

From January 5, some of them will make a stop of 40 to 45 minutes in Te Puke. There will be 11 days on which tour buses will visit, the last being May 27.

Graeme said it was a long-held ambition to include a stop in Te Puke “to share some of the business around”.

The Paengaroa Hall visits are popular. Passengers get to hear about the hall, the community, the hall gets income and there are also spin-offs for residents.

“The village is very proud of that.”

One resident makes scones for the visitors’ morning or afternoon tea.

“At the hall, we can have up to 700 passengers [in a day]. That means 700 scones and that’s big business — if we can provide that opportunity to other people, like [Te Puke] retailers, then that’s great.”

There is also the benefit of giving passengers a taste of Kiwi life and meeting typical everyday New Zealanders — something they love doing.

“The big thing about that is, if we can give them the experience here, there’s quite a percentage of people who return after the voyage — they bring back other people and come back on land and visit the places they have been when they were on the ship.”

There will be hosts to greet passengers, answer questions and point them in the direction of shops and businesses or points of interest.

“Guides will be telling them the stories before they even get here about what to expect, then it’s going to be a ready-made, motivated and managed visit by people who will come around and maybe buy something.

“The guides will be pointing people - go there or go there - you can go and eat across the road, there’s a jeweller’s or a gift shop, here are the interpretation boards, Constables Gallery, take some photos in front of the waharoa or go to the supermarket if that’s what you want.”

Advance information about likely passenger numbers and arrival times would be available.

“If we can pull it off, maybe some other cruise ships might follow suit if they are getting the message back that it’s good,” Crossman said.

Epic Te Puke marketing manager Rebecca Larsen encouraged the retailers at the presentation to let others know about the initiative and urged retailers to get excited about the initiative.

Epic Te Puke marketing manager Rebecca Larsen is encouraging retailers to get excited about cruise ship visitors to the town.

“It’s a huge opportunity for Te Puke. [Epic Te Puke] can share it around, but we need you guys on the street talking — that’s the best way to present it to everybody.”

Te Puke Economic Development Group managing director Mark Boyle said the initiative was something the group had been working on with KCT and Te Puke EDG helped facilitate the cruise ship passenger visits.

General information about Te Puke could be made available for visitors.

“We’ve always had it in mind that we could try to do something to encourage people [from cruise ships] to experience Te Puke township.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity for people who are in business in the town centre to be able to, firstly, welcome passengers from around the world to the Kiwifruit Capital of the World and, secondly, to be able to do some business,” he said.

-Te Puke Times