Loan for gondola 'worth it', as Ruapehu District visitor numbers grow

Thursday, 22 November 2018

A skier enjoying the 2018 season at Whakapapa Skifield.

Aussie visitors are venturing deeper into New Zealand's heartland, with the Ruapehu District seeing a 20 per cent increase in Australian visitors this ski season.

According to Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) data, the 2018 ski season proved bountiful for the Ruapehu District.

Compared with 2017, visitor spending increased by $19 million dollars (22 per cent) in the district during the four-month ski season.

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts chief executive Ross Copland said increases in visitor numbers at Ohakune and Whakapapa skifield mirrored the MBIE data.

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'This was RAL's biggest season since the record 2009 winter.

'[RAL saw] total revenue growth of 23.3 per cent and total visitor numbers growing by 27.4 per cent,' he said.

Snowboarders enjoying the 2018 season at Whakapapa Skifield.

Jo Kennedy, general manager of regional tourism organisation Visit Ruapehu, said the growth in the Ruapehu compared well to the national average.

'Year-to-year growth through to September shows Ruapehu enjoyed a 17 per cent increase in spending, versus a national average [increase] of 11 per cent,' she said.

'This equates to a $32m jump in regional visitor expenditure.'

Ruapehu District Council mayor Don Cameron said it was important there was co-operation in the district.

The figures were presented at a Visit Ruapehu Forum at Chateau Tongariro on Monday.

Ruapehu Mayor Don Cameron said working with organisations, such as Taupō District Council and other regional tourism organisations, would benefit the district's economy.

'The importance of everyone working together cannot be overstated,' he said.

'In some cases this has meant working with partners that historically would have been seen as competitive to Ruapehu such as other regional tourism organisations.'

In June, the council confirmed it was giving RAL a $500,000 loan to fund construction of its Whakapa Skifield gondola. This added to a $10m loan from the government's Provincial Growth Fund and a $1m loan from Taupō District Council.

At the time, Cameron said the council 'had to think about long and hard' about the loan.

'But on the other hand, if we could get it across the line, everyone could see it as a game-changer,' he said in June.

Increases in visitor numbers and spending so far had validated the council's partnership approach, he said.

'The hard data shows that the Ruapehu visitor sector is 'punching above its weight' and the council is committed to ensuring that it continues to do so,' he said.