Positive tourism trends for Rotorua
Recent tourism statistics have revealed some very healthy trends for Rotorua, and a boost for the local economy. The latest figures build on a pattern of consistent growth throughout this year.
Rotorua recorded a 12.4 per cent increase in visitor nights in May, compared to the same month in 2014.
Domestic visitor nights spent in Rotorua's commercial accommodation by increased by 6,900 (9.1 per cent) to 82,200 nights, outstripping the national increase of 2.3 per cent.
Visits to Rotorua's attraction and activities sites in May also recorded a healthy 21 per cent increase, up 29,400 to 166,300.
The largest area of growth was from the Chinese market with 16,200 more visits than in May last year, a massive increase of 56 per cent.
May also saw the return to Rotorua of TRENZ, New Zealand's largest tourism expo, bringing more than 1200 tourism industry delegates to the city for four days, and 800 delegates from 17 countries were in the city for a major international engineering conference.
Destination Rotorua marking general manager Oscar Nathan said the increase had been quite noticeable in a number of areas, especially in Rotorua's accommodation sector and in activities and attractions businesses.
We've seen a marked increase in domestic visitors - particularly from Auckland - and a healthy increase in international visitors from China.
There have been several factors at play that have led to this, including Rotorua's tourism operators putting in a lot of hard work to make sure their products appeal to visitors year-round.
We also believe Destination Rotorua's Famously Rotorua campaign, which predominantly targets the Auckland market, is continuing to contribute to an increase in domestic visitors, Mr Nathan said.
Visits by Aucklanders to Rotorua's attractions and activities during May were up 3700 visits, or 18 per cent over the same month last year, reaching 24,800 visits.
Mr Nathan said events were a key area of focus for Destination Rotorua and for Rotorua Lakes Council.
Often, what starts as a small scale local community event, grows over time to provide compelling reasons for visitors to come to Rotorua.
They join with local residents in experiencing these events and in turn they contribute to the district's growing reputation as a great place to live, work and play. And, of course, the local economy also gets a boost every time a major event takes place in Rotorua.