Destination Cambridge general manager Ruth Crampton talks about the opportunities she sees ahead for the town. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
Cambridge is “really, really ripe” for small group corporate retreat events, Destination Cambridge general manager Ruth Crampton told an industry get together last week.
Some were already happening, and other opportunities would soon present themselves.
“Groups coming in doing either a meeting or a team meeting or a spa – having just a short break. We’re at the end of the expressway so ideally placed,” she told about 50 people.
She would work with the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, Hamilton & Waikato Tourism and local operators to make those happen.
The event was to have also been a formal farewell to Miff Macdiarmid who left Destination Cambridge recently but was called away to a family bereavement in the South Island.
Crampton, who has had a long career in the tourism industry, said she had hit the ground running since starting in April.
The first feedback came from groups who participated in the international Dragon Boat Festival at Lake Karāpiro who felt Cambridge was not prepared for them.
“I have met with the council events team, and we’ve had a really great conversation around where we sit in their space.”
Crampton will soon share her Destination Cambridge office with Cambridge Town Hall Trust general manager Simon Brew. The trust now runs the Town Hall for Waipā District Council, and the community organisation is its major tenant.
“My door’s always open, I’m in the iSite,” she said. One area she did want to see improved was the organisation’s imagery library.
Images currently used on Destination Cambridge collateral were more than five years old and needed refreshing, said Crampton.
Guest speaker at the event was Town Hall Trust general manager Simon Brew who spoke about the tourism opportunities ahead for the hall. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
