Latest / Best of Business / Tania Tapsell: Rotorua Mayor on tourism arrivals overtaking pre-Covid numbers

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Tania Tapsell: Rotorua Mayor on tourism arrivals overtaking pre-Covid numbers · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from Newstalk ZB. Follow this
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• 0:16
  Speaker 2: News for tourism in this country. International visitor numbers are
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  Speaker 2: finally back above pre-COVID levels. That's a great headline, isn't it?
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  Speaker 2: 256,600 travellers arrived in July, the first month to beat
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  Speaker 2: 2019 levels. Australia led the charge. The 134,900 Ocas came here.
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  Speaker 2: China and the United States were also up. Tanya Tapsell
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  Speaker 2: is the mayor of Rotorua and joins me right now. Hello.
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  Speaker 3: Kia ora. Very happy to be here today with that news.
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  Speaker 2: Is Rotorua feeling it? Can you tell?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, we absolutely are. But I've got to say investment matters.
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  Speaker 3: And so I think that the efforts that have gone
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  Speaker 3: in both locally from councils and regional tourism operators, but
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  Speaker 3: also from our government to these key markets, in particular Australia,
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  Speaker 3: China and U.S., is really starting to pay off. And remember,
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  Speaker 3: this is usually a quiet time, so the real big win,
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  Speaker 3: I believe, is that over 70% jump in an increase
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  Speaker 3: in our business and conference events. That's what keeps us
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  Speaker 3: busy in the quiet seasons as well.
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  Speaker 2: Is it the government spending that helped, or was it
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  Speaker 2: in fact your region actually getting off the chairs and
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  Speaker 2: shouting about yourself?
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  Speaker 3: Look, definitely starting from the region, some awesome local leadership there,
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  Speaker 3: but it was also backed by government funding. So if
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  Speaker 3: we look at the people who have seen on the
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  Speaker 3: ground more business, more visitors, Rōshirō is one of them.
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  Speaker 3: We've had about 2 million visitors in the past year,
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  Speaker 3: although our population is 78,000. But we actually teamed up
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  Speaker 3: with Auckland and Wellington and said, instead of just trying
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  Speaker 3: to go overseas in a very competitive market, let's actually
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  Speaker 3: work together. So we worked together with Kiwi North, and
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  Speaker 3: that was backed by $ 2 million from the government. Interestingly,
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  Speaker 3: just a recent announcement, we'll also do that again, but
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  Speaker 3: focusing on hospitality too, which I'm sure will be welcome news.
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  Speaker 2: I was there two weeks ago, and it was great. Waiariki,
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  Speaker 2: the new spa, is amazing. And, of course, your lakefront
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  Speaker 2: is looking great, but that was thanks to the provincial
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  Speaker 2: fund with Shane Jones as well. So there's been great investment.
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  Speaker 2: Rotorua's looking good.
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  Speaker 3: It definitely is. And this is a success that we
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  Speaker 3: can have when governments actually work alongside councils. So, you know,
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  Speaker 3: we'll see how that goes with future government reforms and
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  Speaker 3: rates capping. We'll be looking at things like this and go, hmm,
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  Speaker 3: how are we going to pay for that? So let's
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  Speaker 3: focus on putting investment where it matters.
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  Speaker 2: Now, let's talk about the parking, because the headline is
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  Speaker 2: the CBD is dead. And this happened this week. And
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  Speaker 2: the businesses are saying it's because of the council and
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  Speaker 2: putting charges on the parking. Is the CBD dead? And
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  Speaker 2: I have to say, I did see it a couple
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  Speaker 2: of weeks ago and it did seem quite quiet. And
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  Speaker 2: is it because of the parking charges?
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  Speaker 3: Look, this is why I normally try to stay off
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  Speaker 3: social media, but I slid right in there into the
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  Speaker 3: comments because I had to kind of correct a few things. Yes,
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  Speaker 3: there are naturally quiet times in the day, but it
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  Speaker 3: is very hard to find a park because it is
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  Speaker 3: so busy. And so we have had changes to our
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  Speaker 3: parking because everybody complained about the last one. So you
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  Speaker 3: really can't win. But we have definitely much better machines,
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  Speaker 3: a better app to use, and we actually, a lot
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  Speaker 3: of people listening are going, whoa, we have free parking
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  Speaker 3: for an hour in much of our inner city. You
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  Speaker 3: just need to register your number plate. So quite honestly,
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  Speaker 3: I think there are changes that have happened. It does
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  Speaker 3: take a while for people to adapt to those new changes.
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  Speaker 3: These will be positive, but I do want to acknowledge,
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  Speaker 3: and I've talked with business owners directly saying, look, Is
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  Speaker 3: it really the parking? Is there anything else we can
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  Speaker 3: do to help? And there is a genuine acknowledgement that
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  Speaker 3: it just is a tough time for our economy, which
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  Speaker 3: is why buying local matters and continuing to support our
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  Speaker 3: local businesses in Hospo really matters.
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  Speaker 2: And it's also why those tourists have to keep on
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  Speaker 2: coming because they come and they spend money. Tanya Tapsal,
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  Speaker 2: of course, is the Rotorua Mayor.
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