Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / 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 · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: News for tourism in this country. International visitor numbers are
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: finally back above pre-COVID levels. That's a great headline, isn't it?
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: 256,600 travellers arrived in July, the first month to beat
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: 2019 levels. Australia led the charge. 134,900 Ocas came here.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: China and the United States were also up. Tanya Tapsell
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: is the mayor of Rotorua and joins me right now. Hello.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Kia ora. Very happy to be here today with that news.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Is Rotorua feeling it? Can you tell?
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Yes, we absolutely are. But I've got to say investment matters.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: And so I think that the efforts that have gone
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: in both locally from councils and regional tourism operators, but
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: also from our government to these key markets, in particular Australia,
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: China and US, is really starting to pay off. And remember,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: this is usually a quiet time. So the real big win,
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: I believe... is that over 70% jump in an increase
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: in our business and conference events. That's what keeps us
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: busy in the quiet seasons as well.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Is it the government spending that helped, or was it
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: in fact your region actually getting off the chairs and
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: shouting about yourself?
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Look, definitely starting from the region, some awesome local leadership there,
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: but it was also backed by government funding. So if
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: we look at the people who have seen on the
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: ground more business, more visitors, Rōshirō is one of them.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: We've had about 2 million visitors in the past year,
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: although our population is 78,000. But we actually teamed up
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: with Auckland and Wellington and said, instead of just trying
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: to go overseas in a very competitive market, let's actually
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: work together. So we worked together with Kiwi North, and
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: that was backed by $ 2 million from the government. Interestingly,
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: just a recent announcement, we'll also do that again, but
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: focusing on hospitality too, which I'm sure will be welcome news.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: I was there two weeks ago, and it was great. Waiariki,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: the new spa, is amazing. And, of course, your lakefront
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: is looking great, but that was thanks to the provincial
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: fund with Shane Jones as well. So there's been great investment.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Rotorua's looking good.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: It definitely is. And this is a success that we
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: can have when governments actually work alongside councils. So, you know,
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: we'll see how that goes with future government reforms and
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: rates capping. We'll be looking at things like this and go, hmm,
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: how are we going to pay for that? So let's
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: focus on putting investment where it matters.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Now, let's talk about the parking, because the headline is
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: the CBD is dead. And this happened this week. And
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: the businesses are saying it's because of the council and
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: putting charges on the parking. Is the CBD dead? And
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: I have to say, I did see it a couple
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: of weeks ago and it did seem quite quiet. And
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: is it because of the parking charges?
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Look, this is why I normally try to stay off
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: social media, but I slid right in there into the
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: comments because I had to kind of correct a few things. Yes,
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: there are naturally quiet times in the day, but it
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: is very hard to find a park because it is
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: so busy. And so we have had changes to our
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: parking because everybody complained about the last one. So you
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: really can't win. But we have definitely much better machines,
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: a better app to use, and we actually, a lot
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: of people listening are going, whoa, we have free parking
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: for an hour in much of our inner city. You
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: just need to register your number plate. So quite honestly,
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: I think there are changes that have happened. It does
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: take a while for people to adapt to those new changes.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: These will be positive, but I do want to acknowledge,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: and I've talked with business owners directly saying, look, Is
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: it really the parking? Is there anything else we can
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: do to help? And there is a genuine acknowledgement that
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: it just is a tough time for our economy, which
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: is why buying local matters and continuing to support our
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: local businesses in Hospo really matters.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: And it's also why those tourists have to keep on
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: coming because they come and they spend money. Tanya Tapsal,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: of course, is the Rotorua Mayor.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: to Newstalk ZB from 5am weekdays or follow the podcast
• 3:52
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