Great weather drives tourism boom

The Coromandel had a bumper summer in terms of visitors thanks to the great weather, say tourism operators, businesses and information centres.

Overall, visitor numbers seem to be up over the peak holiday season compared to last year, and where they haven't increased, spending has gone up.

Thames-Coromandel District Mayor Glenn Leach says it's great to hear the whole District had a good summer.

"We're really happy at Council that businesses are having a successful summer and that so many people have come to have a great time on the Coromandel, enjoying the outstanding beaches and scenery and all the events and activities here. As a Council, we want to do everything we can to help support, promote and work to keep this up through the shoulder season and into winter."

Mercury Bay

"The weather has been perfect and it's been a great season so far. We've heard of people staying an extra 8-10 days," says Gary Fitzsimons, chair of the Mercury Bay Business Association.

More families were staying than in previous years and people were spending more, he says.

Cara Jordan, manager of the Whitianga i-SITE, says the number of people coming in to the information centre was down slightly on last year, but people were spending more.

Visitors were spending on accommodation, activities and fishing, she says.

Fred Acke, owner of Whitianga Ferry, which runs between Whitianga and Ferry Landing, says despite the lack of the Coromandel Gold music festival on New Year's Eve, passenger numbers were up by at least 5% over last year.

The park and ride service from Hahei to the Cathedral Cove trail head saw a whopping 50% increase in business. The Mercury Bay Summer Shuttle from Ferry Landing to Hahei also had more users.

Events

Major events drew thousands of people to the District, with the Leadfoot Festival attracting about 6,500 petrol heads over the Waitangi Day weekend.

The Whitianga Waterways concert featuring rock legends Heart, Foreigner and Three Dog Night pulled 8,500 fans through the gates on 25 January.

Coromandel Town's Keltic Fair on 2 January drew a near-record crowd of 13,500 people to what the organisers say is the biggest one-day fair in the country.

Coromandel Town

Brenda Kelsey from the Coromandel Town Business Association says people there were "really happy" with how the summer has gone.

Accommodation providers told her the busy season got off to an early start in November and was still going.

One motel owner told Ms Kelsey it had been their second busiest summer in the seven years they had owned the business.

Real estate agents have also been kept hopping, she says, and food markets reported a "brilliant summer".

Sandra Wilson, manager of the Coromandel Information Centre, says the usual second wave of visitors who don't have kids - which begins later in January - was the best in several years.

She says they had lots of enquiries from groups wanting to do walks and booking accommodation.

Business was also up for the ferry from Auckland. James Bailey, manager of 360 Discovery Cruises, said once the weather improved in time for Christmas, bookings shot up. In January they took about 750 more people to Coromandel than last year. And February up to the Waitangi Day long weekend was "much better than last year".

Thames

Down in Thames, the manager of the i-SITE, Maureen Sheary, says visitors had been pouring through their doors, with December and January traffic up more than 10% over the same months last summer.

Ms Sheary says a new trend this year was Asian families from Auckland coming on the weekends for a look with a view to bringing overseas guests another time.

The trend was expected, she says, because Tourism New Zealand and the national i-SITE organisation had done a big marketing push to let people in Auckland know how close the Coromandel was.

The big hits for visitors to the Thames i-SITE were Hot Water Beach, Cathedral Cove, kauri trees and waterfalls and the drive up the Thames Coast.

The Hauraki Rail Trail is popular with weekend visitors and lots of people were always asking about the Kauaeranga Valley, Ms Sheary says.

The Department of Conservation Kauaeranga Visitor Centre saw 40% more visitors in January this year than last, with nearly 7,000 people coming through their doors.

Whangamata

Over in Whangamata, Wilma Kmilcik, manager of the Info Plus centre, says they had more visits than the last couple of years, with nearly 8,000 people coming through in January. "Our summer was quite good".

People were asking about accommodation, walks, surfing and paddle-boarding.

Tairua

Tairua has been inundated with visitors, says Rowena Brown at the Information Centre there.

"We're the first port of call on the eastern seaboard. We've been very busy," she says.

People are interested in the two main attractions on that coast: Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove, she says. They want to know tide times and are also asking about boat excursions, walks and attractions further afield, including Hobbiton in Matamata, Ms Brown says.

Pauanui

At the Pauanui i-SITE, manager Jewel Hughes says they were "so busy", but when she crunched the numbers she saw there were 3-4 fewer visitors each day compared to last year.

"I think this year everybody was at the beach." But they made more bookings for tour operators than last year, she says.

And people were staying on, she says, unlike the usual drop-off in business the town sees from early January.

Paul Schrader of the Pauanui Business Association agrees it has been a good summer, with lots of people still around.

District-wide

Destination Coromandel, the regional tourism operator, says traffic to their website was up by more than 50% over the last two months.

Manager Hadley Dryden says a major driver had been the Good For Your Soul campaign, featuring a contest to win a holiday in the Coromandel.

The busy summer season has also been reflected in Council services. Water use in the main visitor centres on the east coast of the District shot up over the peak holiday period compared to the same time last year. Onemana led the pack with water use jumping 25% over last year. Hahei was up 18%, Whangamata 12% and Pauanui 13%.

The amount of rubbish and recycling collected was also up in most centres from last year - but a greater percentage of the total was diverted from landfills to recycling centres.

Requests to Council for Land Information Memoranda - which indicates real estate market activity - have been similar to last year - which was the highest number in the last 4-5 years.

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