One month on from the extreme flooding event that saw a year’s worth of rainfall hit Nelson City in just four days; the region is still beautiful, and the Nelson Regional Development Agency is encouraging locals to help prove it.

In a quick weather shift, on Wednesday August 17, the forecasted heavy rain for Westport or Golden Bay, swung east and hit Nelson City with residents and businesses having to act quickly to ensure the safety of their family and pets.

“While our region has been dealt a handful of significant weather events over the past three years, with devastating impacts to many homes and businesses, it has created an even stronger resilience in our community and has only strengthened the support we show each other when the going gets tough” says Mayor Rachel Reese, Mayor of Nelson.

The Still Beautiful campaign encourages Nelson Tasman residents and businesses to share current images of the region on social media using #stillbeautiful to help demonstrate the regions quick recovery following the flooding event.

“This initiative aims to support our Nelson City and regional businesses, by sending a clear message that the region is still beautiful, open for business and welcoming visitors. Many of our businesses suffered heavily from lack of customers as people stayed away from town centres after the floods. A concern for business after an event such as this is an extended perception, especially by visitors, that the region is not open for business, and that some visitors either don’t book, stay away or even cancel holidays. The impact of images of flooding and devastation shared by media can endure for a long time, especially as people book ahead for their holidays. We need to reinforce the message that it is still beautiful here in Nelson Tasman and we are very much open for business”, says Fiona Wilson, CE of NRDA.

“We have heard from a number of businesses in the visitor sector who have been managing calls from booked travellers with concerns about the state of our region. We hope our locals can get behind this initiative and use our collective power on social media to share images of our beautiful place ahead of summer to help encourage visitors to continue to travel here, come into the city and town centres and explore the region. Visitors to Nelson Tasman continue to be welcomed with open arms” says Tracee Neilson, Visitor Destination Manager at NRDA.; “it is looking like it will be summer as usual here.”

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