A new Carter Observatory attraction features New Zealand’s very own rocket man. Marketing & Communications Officer Dawn Muir explains how this Wellington attraction continue to inspire visitors and maximise yield.

Q: Apart from its fantastic location overlooking Wellington Harbour, why would a visitor come to Carter Observatory?

If you’re visiting Wellington and are even a little bit interested in our own Southern Cross and Milky Way, you’ll love Carter Observatory. If you’re interested in Wellington’s early history and heritage, or Maori and European navigation then you’ll find something here to engage you… or if you just want to be entertained, learn a little bit more about space and leave feeling inspired, then we have something for you.

Q: Tell us about some of your new developments?

Carter was refurbished in March 2010 and with a recent Lotteries grant we’ve added three new attractions:

Inspired by the work of New Zealand’s very own rocket man Sir William Pickering, the Pickering Gallery looks at manned space flight. Launch a rocket yourself or touch a piece of the Moon (yes really), see how Kiwis are using data from the 2500 satellites spinning around our galaxy
The Tūhura Module is a fully themed, immersive discovery space module designed for younger kids to use their natural curiosity to explore life and work in a space station
A short narrated film looks at Maui and the Taming of the Sun and the importance placed on Maui throughout the Pacific

Q: How do you generate income?

We receive a contribution from the Wellington City Council towards our annual operating costs, however most of our income is generated through our ‘walk-up’ visitors, education programmes and corporate venue hire.

Our challenge is to maximise those yield earning opportunities in this amazing facility. – we’re lucky we have so many options. Events such as Rugby World Cup and Matariki, the Maori New Year, offer opportunities to run specially themed talks and shows that keep our followers engaged and coming back. This year we’re having Christmas Eve star gazing.

Q: What role does social media play in this business?
The reality is that everyone is talking about you on social media, whether you are engaged or not. I feel it’s really important to try to stay at in touch with the technology.

Social media allows us to engage with our community of interest and prospective and past visitors. The trick is how we integrate the many tools out there to our maximum advantage – including how we leverage that interest into actual business. It’s fun developing it.

I recently did the TIA facilitated social media e-course which was enormously useful and was also lucky enough to attend the Eye for Travel North American Travel Distribution Seminar in September. My advice is stay engaged, learn all you can and apply a few tools to your business - but you’ve got to commit to it and embrace it – it’s not going away anytime soon!

www.carterobservatory.org/

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