Coromandel's tourism industry continues to expand as we attract greater numbers of international tourists to our district.

International tourism spending on the Coromandel was up nearly 20% to $108.2M in the year to March compared to the previous year, while domestic visitor spending rose 3.6% to $343.6M.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment April 2018 Summary Report also reveals there were 903,203 guest nights in the area covered by Destination Coromandel, our Regional Tourism Organisation, an area that also includes Hauraki District.
This was up 0.3% from last year but that doesn't include Air Bnb, Bookabach, Bachcare and similar rentals which MBIE doesn't provide figures for.

Hadley Dryden, General Manager of Destination Coromandel, made mention that "The tourism industry continues to grow and The Coromandel is no exception. Despite some challenging weather events we are still recording record results. Now is a great time to develop accommodation and year-round activity options which will deliver even more value to our local economy.”

Hadley added that “Our current domestic campaign is promoting tours on the Coromandel Coastal Walkway at the tip of the Peninsula. Going with a tour lessens the impact on the environment and requires people stay at least 2 nights in the region while maximising spending opportunities."

In a highly competitive market among the regions for visitor dollars, the Coromandel is showing good growth, in particular the international visitor market with above national average growth, right up there with other regions such as Southland and Nelson.

"We've got a fantastic offering here in the Coromandel for visitors, with something for everybody," our Mayor Sandra Goudie says. "We've got fantastic beaches, fishing, water sports, hill tramping, events - you name it."

While the total monthly visitor spend still trended upwards over the year ending in March, there was a small downturn in January in domestic visitor spending.

This could largely be attributed to the severe storm in early January that caused the temporary closure of the Thames Coast Road (SH25) and subsequent running repairs.

Domestic tourism spending dropped by 7% in January compared to the same month last year but the international spend grew by 11.2%. However, because domestic visitor spending is worth about three times as much as the international spend, the impact overall was a drop of 3.6% to $47.4M.

Despite the January storm, the Coromandel still did well in terms of attracting visitors compared to other regions of the country.
The area covered by Destination Coromandel ranked 15th in terms of annual visitor spend, with domestic and international tourists contributing a combined $452M to the economy, $366M of which was spent in our district.

That's more than Destination Marlborough, Tourism Central Otago and Destination Fiordland, but less than heavyweights Auckland, the other big cities and destination towns Queenstown, Rotorua and Taupo.

And last week, Destination Coromandel is at the TRENZ tourism and travel conference in Dunedin, to showcase the Coromandel to the international travel trade and secure bookings with offshore travel buyers.

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